The Last Survivor
by Darks8728
Summary: Mysterious, new villains are after something valuable, which is currently in the possession of a 13 year old female hedgehog named Lavendar Silverwind. When everything she has ever known is stripped away from her, she is rescued by Mobian hero Sonic the hedgehog and co. Little does she know of the powers she has, or who she truly is.
1. Prologue

**Okay listen up! This story contains fan characters (and the original ones). If you cannot stand this fact, then please leave now. For those who don't have a problem, then goodie! Enjoy the story, and review!**

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Prologue

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Smoke. All she could see was the smoke.

Flames engulfed trees, eating away their trunks, leaves, and branches as if they were nothing but a food source, a food source for the raging fire. Ancient trees that had stood for centuries groaned as the flames licked away their very core, causing them to split and topple to the ground. The villagers that had lived in this peaceful and ancient forest were running for their lives, screaming as the fire burned down their homes, their belongings, and even their own flesh. Everything was in chaos, and no one knew where to go, what to do, and why the flames had suddenly sprung to life.

Except for one hedgehog.

She was running through the underbrush, her breathing coming in ragged pants as she tore through brambles and bushes. A glowing gem attached to a mahogany cord was hanging around her neck, illuminating her path through the smoke. Various gashes ran along her body, leaving a thin blood trail as she dashed furiously away from the burning village. Her village. Her home. Everyone she loved was in danger, because of her.

And she was determined to lead the danger as far away from them as possible.

Three pursuers were chasing her, and their yellow, menacing eyes glinted through the darkness of the night as they followed her trail of blood. They crawled on four limbs, but large, billowing cloaks of black, covering their entire body and face, hid their features. One of the pursuers stopped scuttling for a second and reared up on its hind legs, raising its forearms. In its clawed hand, a bow and arrow was raised in the air, its string and bow taught with tension. The tip of the arrow was flickering with fire.  
Suddenly, something whistled through the air, and the tree next to the frantic hedgehog exploded into flames. She screamed with terror, but forced herself to keep running, skirting around the burning tree and resuming her pace. Sweat dripped down her face from exhaustion and fear, and tears leaked out of her eyes due to the smoke, blurring her eyesight. She let out a weak cough as she ducked under a large smoke cloud, weaved in between two more bushes, and flung herself out.

And almost had a heart attack.

In front of her, the path had suddenly ended into a small, rocky clearing, and the only thing between her and a sickening drop below was a rocky cliff.

_No, it can't be a dead end!_ She almost shrieked in frustration. She had gotten this far, she couldn't give up now. Frantically, the magenta hedgehog ran to the edge of the cliff, seeing if there were any rocks or footholds that would allow her to climb down the straight wall. There were none. Turning around, she was about to go back until three, black figures melted out of the shadows of the trees, their clawed hands clicking against the ground and ringing out across the clearing like a death clock ticking down her final minutes.

The pursuers had caught up.

"That'ss it, girl," one of them hissed at her, raising a clawed hand threateningly. They had all stopped their advance and were now blocking her only escape route - forward. The hedgehog took a step back, but realized that her boot was already dangerously close to the cliff edge. She had no choice but to stay put. Her heart was fluttering in her chest, and with a slow movement, she reached behind her.

"One more move and you'll be sure to feel the ssting of thiss arrow," another one of the pursuers hissed, raising a bow and arrow and pointing it straight at her. The others hissed in assent, but in answer, the hedgehog pulled out a shiny, black and green nun chuck, the silver chains clanking together. It was something her father had made for her, and she never had had the chance to use them.

Now she did.

"I don't think so," she snarled angrily, whirling the nun chuck in front of her. Her other hand covered the gem around her neck protectively. "What do you want from me anyway?"

To her surprise, the three started to laugh at her, a mixture of hisses, growls, and chortles all combined together into one, very ugly sound. The one that had spoken to her first stifled his laughter and snapped his teeth together, causing her to wince. "What you're covering up with you're hand right now, that preciouss gem of yourss. Hand it over and we'll sspare your life, girl." And he extended a clawed hand towards her, waiting for her response.

Maybe it was the fact that they were laughing at her, or maybe it was because of the annoying way they talked (what were they, snakes? No, snakes don't have legs, do they? Things were so strange now that the hedgehog wouldn't be surprised if they were snakes with legs), or the fact that they wanted something that belonged to her made her gnash her teeth together.

"Never! This gem is mine, and rightfully MINE!" And with that, she lunged at the figure, lashing her nun chuck out. The gem around her neck seemed to glow brighter with her attack, and with all her might, she swung her weapon at the pursuer's head.

Unfortunately, she had never really used the nun chuck before, and her swing was off. The figure dodged it easily and skidded to her left, leaving claw marks in the ground. Surprised, the hedgehog turned towards him, only to feel a burst of pain in her right shoulder. With a cry, she dropped to the floor, clutching her shoulder. Blood was dripping heavily out of the wound, and as she raised her head, she saw the pursuer with the bow and arrow standing to her right, already nocking another arrow.

"What did I say? NOT A MOVE!" And he leaped at her with claws extended.  
Desperate and already dizzy from the loss of blood, the hedgehog glanced down the cliff, seeing the long drop down to the forest floor below. She couldn't let them take her gem; it would be too dangerous for her to lose it. For the safety of the people of my village, she thought. Taking one last glance at the shining moon covered by a filmy haze of smoke, she sent a prayer to the gods.

And she jumped off the cliff.

"YOU IDIOT!" The black figure cuffed the one with the bow and arrow on the head, his fury bubbling. "We were ssupposed to retrieve the gem! Now look what you've done, you mindlesss fool! You let your temper get the better of you, AGAIN." The figure with the bow and arrow staggered backwards and glared at his other companion, his claws flexing with his own anger, and guilt. True, his temper fuse was short, and anything that didn't go how he wanted to set him off.

"Don't worry, we can sstill find the girl'ss body, and retrieve the gem. He won't be very happy that she'ss dead, but at least we'll get the better part of the mission done" he exclaimed, trying to make up for his mistake. The third one that had been silent the whole time lifted his head and stared down the cliff side. "Then what are we doing here? Burn down the resst of the foresst and then we'll ssstart the ssearch."

And with that, the trio slinked back into the burning woods, screams and wails still ringing into the night.

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**A bit sudden and confusing, my apologies. But it will all become clearer as the story progresses. Who is this "female hedgehog", and why do the creatures want her gem? **

**Please review! **


	2. Chapter 1: Burning Woods

**__Author's Note: Okay, so this is the next chapter for TLS. It's pretty long, so sorry if its a strain to the eyes! Some of the chapters have accompanying pictures on my deviantart account (hand drawn by yours truly). The one for this chapter is right here: ** gallery/#/d48311q **  
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**I do not own any SEGA characters. (but fan characters belong to me) **

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**_Chapter 1: _**

_Burning Woods__  
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Knuckles' day was officially ruined.

Again.

"Ha, I win again!" Sonic exclaimed cheerfully, pumping his fist in the air. The red echidna, however, gave him a rueful glare, feeling a strong temptation to push the blue hedgehog off of the X-Tornado. They were sitting outside on the plane's wings right now, the early summer sun glinting off of the domed shield of the cockpit. Tails was flying the plane steadily over a thickly wooded forest, the strong wind preventing him from flying too fast. The trio was just heading home from a short camping trip, due to Knuckles' anxiety over the Master Emerald. (And also because they had run out of chilidogs, much to Sonic's dismay). There had been no uproars from Dr. Eggman lately, and the three had decided to kick back and relax, but of course, some things just couldn't be kept off of the mind, and Knuckles had been worrying about the safety of the Master Emerald since the first day.

In fact, that's where they were headed to right now, Angel Island, the mysterious floating island where the Master Emerald was located.

But looking at the circumstances, the young fox personally didn't think they would make it, thanks to two Mobians aboard the plane.

"This game is stupid. It's not fair. I have a disadvantage," Knuckles grumbled, crossing his arms. Inside, the red echidna didn't really care if he lost or won. The only thing he _really _cared about was the consequence after someone lost, and he was not willing to suffer those consequences, especially when the person delivering them was from the most annoying hedgehog alive.

Sonic however, did not pity him and instead gave him a playful punch on the shoulder, smirking.

"Oh come on! It's not _my_ fault you don't have any fingers. Just cause you can't do the scissors sign doesn't mean you can't beat me with the other two! I swear I did rock for most of the game, so come on, give me your arm." He held out his hand and smiled innocently, causing the echidna to grit his teeth in annoyance, and defeat. If he backed down now, he was going to look weak, and that was NOT what he wanted.

"Just…get...it over with," he muttered darkly and as if against his will, slowly put his arm in the hedgehog's grasp. Sonic's smile widened when he realized that he had gotten his way, and the smile transformed into a mischievous grin. _Wait till he hears this,_ the blue hedgehog thought. Then, raising his other hand melodramatically over Knuckles arm, he closed it into a fist and chanted loudly, "I win you lose, now you get a big fat bruise."

For a second, he just let his fist hang in air, but then he looked at Knuckles and exclaimed rather snidely, "Well, because I've won at least 100 times for rock, paper, scissors, and that your arm is already bruised up enough, I'll make sure this won't hurt, k?" Knuckles didn't answer him, but from the way a vein popped conspicuously out of his forehead, Sonic knew he had heard him (and was probably thinking different ways on how to disembowel him too).

After he brought his fist down on the red echidna's arm, Sonic grinned mischievously once more, and when Knuckles tried to pull his throbbing and bruised arm away, he tightened his grip. "Oh no you don't. I have a special thing in store for this one." Hearing this, the red echidna froze and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the blue hedgehog, not liking the grin on his face that said clearly oh-no-here-is-trouble. Brushing the locks of hair that had blown into his face, he asked cuttingly, "And what exactly is that special thing?" If Sonic was going to make him do the chicken dance, then he'd better forget it. One, he didn't want to relive that humiliating experience, and two, they were on a plane, and he was not terribly fond of falling off.

But what Sonic had in mind wasn't the chicken dance. Instead, he shifted his weight so he was kneeling on his knees and chanted once more, "I win you lose, now I get to _pull your hair_."

"WHAT?!" Knuckles shouted, immediately scooting as far away from the hedgehog as possible, which wasn't that far, considering that they were on a plane's wing. "Are you _insane?_ That wasn't part of the consequence! A bruised arm is bad enough, but _this_ is crazy!" He subconsciously tugged at his locks of hair and bundled them up in his hand, keeping it out of the hedgehog's range. And he thought the chicken dance was bad. This was far worse.

Sonic rolled his eyes at the fuming echidna and crossed his arms. "Um, maybe that's why I said I have something _special _in store for you, knucklehead. Besides, it'll only take a second." He made an attempt to grab his hand, but Knuckles swatted it away with his other hand, seriously thinking of pushing the hedgehog off of the plane.

"No WAY," the echidna growled, dodging the hedgehog's swipe.

"Yes WAY."

"You are insane! Crazy! Out of your mind!"

"Come on, I swear it won't hurt…or are you too chicken?"

"Chicken? You are the cuckoo one here!"

"Just-"

"NO! I WON'T LET YOU—"

"GUYS!" Tails shouted at them, his voice slightly muffled from the domed windshield. This was seriously getting out of hand. The yellow fox couldn't even hear his own thoughts anymore with those two squabbling back and forth. Twisting around in his seat, he shot both of them exasperated looks and exclaimed, "If this keeps up, you two are going to tip the plane to one side!" As if on cue, a strong wind buffeted the aircraft, causing Knuckles and Sonic to pause with their quarrel and cling onto the wing, the wind tugging at their hair and fur. The plane rocked shakily, and the wing that the two Mobians were on started to tilt downwards. Tails turned around again and concentrated on steering, struggling to keep the plane on course. With a small tilt of the wheel, the fox managed to dip a bit lower and escaped from the turbulent air, the plane resuming its normal position and steady glide once more.

"See, that's what I meant," Tails mumbled. "Just stay put until we get to Angel Island. And just a reminder, we don't have a Chaos Emerald powering the X-Tornado, so it would be best not to do anything rash."

Now that that was over, Sonic straightened again from his crouch position and uncurled his fingers, which had been tightly gripping the edge of the wing. He smiled sheepishly at his young friend, sweat-dropping. "Eh, sorry buddy. Knuckles started it," he added pointedly, and the red echidna, who had been lying on his stomach during the short turbulence, immediately sat up again and glared at the hedgehog.

"Me? YOU were the one who wanted to play the game in the first place. And you were the one who wanted to pull my hair for who knows why. So why are you accusing—"

"_Guys_," Tails warned, sighing inwardly. Count on those two to make it difficult. They were his best friends, Sonic even being his "bigger brother", but sometimes, the people you cared about most gave you the biggest headache. "Maybe you should look at the scenery down below," he added, trying to use any distraction necessary. "The woods are pretty beautiful."

Fortunately, the echidna and the hedgehog did not quarrel any further, but Knuckles had made it pretty obvious that he was still cross with the blue Mobian, because he had climbed onto the other wing of the plane, muttering something about, "crazy hedgehogs." Sonic didn't really seem to mind, although he had been looking forward to pulling the echidna's hair. Just for fun. It would've been funny to see his reaction. Instead, he lay back on his back, folding his arms under his head. Whatever. Best to keep quiet, so it'll be easier for Tails. But next time, he would find a way to get even with the red echidna.

At this time, the plane was starting to reach mountainous zone, the forest starting to thin out and the dense growth of trees getting much sparser. Wispy clouds floated gently around in the air, and as the plane passed by, they passed through a cloud and Sonic sneezed, his nose twitching with irritation. Clouds. Other than water, they came a close second to things he feared, only because they also had water particles in them. But then, he caught a whiff of something, something that shouldn't be in a cloud, and he sat up, his nose twitching back and forth. He knew that smell…but why couldn't he place it? He sniffed the air intently, inhaling deeply, but the cloud was long gone, as well as the odor. Disoriented, the hedgehog rubbed his nose and stared ahead, seeing more wispy clouds up ahead. What was that smell when they had passed through the cloud? And instead of water droplets, (thankfully) his fur was slightly ashy, as if soot had fallen lightly from the sky and coated him with a thin layer. Was it…

"Thanks for the ride Tails," Knuckles broke the silence, facing the domed shield while rubbing his head. "I really appreciate it."

Tails turned around in his seat (careful not to ride into another wind current) and smiled at the echidna. "Anytime Knuckles. If you ever need help getting anywhere, I'm here to help." He caught a glimpse of Sonic crouching close to the wing's edge, staring intently up ahead, his expression slightly confused. Curious, the young fox tapped on the glass to get the hedgehog's attention and asked, "What's it Sonic?" For a moment, the blue hedgehog didn't answer, but then he blinked distractedly and angled an ear to the fox, turning his head slightly. Almost to himself, he answered, "There was this weird smell…and I don't think clouds get as gray as _that_." Tails just stared blankly at him, not understanding his meaning.

"Um…what smell?" he queried. Just then, the air in front of them turned dark, and before the young fox could stop, the plane flew straight into…a cloud?

It was too wispy to be a cloud. The windshield was turning gray, preventing the fox from looking outside. Panicking a bit, Tails desperately turned on the windshield wipers, only to have the gray particles swept away and allowing him to see more gray up ahead. They were surrounded by…

"Smoke!" a strangled voice sounded from within the gray depths. Sonic coughed and covered his mouth with his hand, waving his other arm in the air in an attempt to clear the smoke away from his face. "I should've known. That smell in the cloud had been ash! And that cloud wasn't a cloud, it was smoke!" A rather thick layer of smoke floated into his face and he sneezed, and he ceased any attempts to speak and instead closed his eyes. On the other wing, Knuckles was having a hard time seeing where anything was, and with one arm covering his eyes, he spluttered, "Well, thanks for the info, hedgehog. You could've told us sooner you know. Now we…we're stuck in some filthy smoke cloud!" He spat soot out of his mouth and shouted, "Tails! What are you waiting for? Get the hell of us out of here!"

Tails, who had been distracted by the smoke, hurriedly snapped to attention and placed his hands on the steering rods, a little unsure of what to do next. If he flew too low, they would crash into the trees. If he flew too high, they would crash into the mountaintops. He slowly tilted the rods to the right, feeling the plane shift its direction. The only option was to move sideways and hope to escape the smoke that way.

The X-Tornado slowly started to change direction, the nose of the plane pointing east now instead of north. Sonic did his best to stay on the wing, cover his eyes and cover his mouth, but it wasn't easy. _If only I had three arms_, he thought. That's when his hair flew into his face because of the wind the X-Tornado was generating to make the turn, and he spit it out of his mouth, rethinking his request. _Make that four arms._

Firmly, Tails pushed the rods forwards and the X-Tornado's engines flared with heat and they blasted out of the cloud, the smoke parting away from the aircraft as they shot out. Knuckles nearly fell off the plane from the sudden movement and he landed on his butt, causing the wing to vibrate.

"Geez Tails! When I meant get us out of here, I didn't mean shoot out like a rocket!" he exclaimed, rubbing his now sore tail. Tails sweat-dropped and smiled sheepishly at the red echidna. "Oops…sorry Knuckles. At least we got out of the smoke, right?"

He was right. Finally, the air was clear and the Mobians could see again, and they all took a deep breath, breathing in the clean air. The X-Tornado was now flying parallel along the mountains, bordering the mountain's southern side. Sonic uncovered his eyes and blinked a few times against the sun light, feeling ash fringing his eyelashes, a sooty taste in his mouth. Spitting it over the side of the plane, he twisted around to look back the way they had come. Their melodramatic escape had caused the smoke to become less bunched and spread farther apart, but it didn't make it look any prettier. The strong wind was also pushing them rapidly the other direction, putting more distance between them and the plane.

Smoke. If smoke was in the air, then that meant a fire had started somewhere. And judging by how big that smoke cloud had been…his grip tightened on the plane. It must've been a pretty big fire, and the strong wind wasn't going to make the situation any better. If the fire were still going, it would spread and burn down villages, towns, and homes. He couldn't let something like that happen.

It seemed as if the young fox had also been contemplating the matter, for he stared straight ahead, his gaze troubled and worried.

"Sonic…that smoke cloud…there must have been a fire," he said, his eyebrow furrowing with concern. "That wind is pushing the smoke west at about 65mph, and it's been blowing that direction for some time now, that means…"

"Wherever the fire is, we're heading in that direction right now," Knuckles unexpectedly cut in, his arms folded across his chest. Looking down at the passing woods below him, he muttered, "Wild fires tend to happen on Angel Island. Of course, none of them have been serious enough to cause much damage, but because of that I've been able to study their path…the way it moves and which things are more flammable than others. Luckily, Angel Island is the home of tropical plantation, which isn't as dangerous. And judging by these trees here—most of them are fir trees and small birches. There's bound to be a lot of brambles and brushes as well, which is extremely flammable."

For a moment, the three were silent as they drank in this information. Sonic scratched his ear uncomfortably, wishing that Knuckles hadn't shared that little piece of knowledge with them. It certainly wasn't a comforting thought. "Since when did you get so smart knucklehead?" he exclaimed. "Have you been using your head lately?" Knuckles rounded on the hedgehog and bared his teeth with annoyance.

"First of all, my name is NOT knucklehead, hedgehog. Second, are you saying that I am stupid?" The blue hedgehog smirked and mockingly pondered at the echidna's question.

"Hmm…well let's see. First, you fell for Eggman when he said I was selfish and wanted the Chaos Emerald for myself. Second, you fell for Eggman again when he said he would help us return to Mobius. You gave him all the Chaos Emeralds and he stole it from you. It nearly cost my life to get them back." Sonic paused for a moment, his face turning a bit solemn remembering his near death experience. Then he recomposed himself, cleared his throat and continued, "Third, you fell for Eggman AGAIN on that water planet when he said he would change his ways and turn over a new leaf. I mean, _come on_. You wouldn't think a mad genius would really mean that, would he? Right now, you can't even beat me at a game of rock, paper, scissors. And then there was that time you nearly set my house on fire…"

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Knuckles roared, his face almost as red as his fur. With shaking hands, he raised a fist into the air and growled with irritation, and maybe even embarrassment. What Sonic had listed was true, (except he could hardly agree with the rock, paper, scissors one, because it wasn't fair) even the one setting his house on fire. They had been hanging around at his house one day when Knuckles had found a strange looking creature prowling around in the grass near his yard. It probably wasn't a very smart thing when he had thrown a rock at it, but how was HE supposed to know that the creature had been a baby dragon? It nearly burned his tail off (and Sonic's house.) "I am just saying…even people like _me_ know things, k? At least I know more than you do," he retorted darkly, his mood spoiled once again. If this kept up, he was going to strangle the hog and throw him off the plane, _with _his arms and legs tied.

Sonic just rolled his eyes at the red Mobian. "Yeah yeah, whatever, Knuxter."

"Knuckles! NOT Knuxter!"

"What's the difference?"

"A BIG difference, smart alec. You wouldn't like it if I called you a rat would you—"

"Guys!" Tails suddenly gasped, his blue eyes widening with shock. He had decided to ignore his two friends' little squabble and had looked out of the plane's window down at the woods below. Pointing down there now, he felt his heart sink. "You've got to look at this."

The two Mobians looked down at the land below, both deciding not to argue any further, and gasped also at what they saw. The trees below them…well actually, what was _left _of the trees below them were black and charred, smoke still curling out of their trunks and branches. Most of the smoke had been blown away the direction they had come from, but now the new smoke floated into the air and hung over the trees like fog, shrouding the area with a filmy sheet of gray. A wasteland of dead and burned plantation littered the forest grounds, and from up above, the part where the trees had been burned stood out like a black and gray patch on a green sweater. Some trees were still in flames, the red and orange heat flashing in and out between the trees, threatening to spread. Not good.

"That's…where the fire was," Knuckles said at last, sitting back on the wing. "Brilliant."

Sonic realized that he had been gaping at the scene the whole time and quickly shut his mouth, hoping no one had noticed. He stood up on the plane's wing, balancing deliberately on the wing's edge. He had to do something. He couldn't just stand here and watch the fire eat away the forest. Carefully, he edged even closer to the tip of the wing, feeling the breeze tugging at his hair. He bent his knees.

Tails saw his movement and momentarily glanced at him, his expression concerned.

"Sonic, I know you want to help, but it might be dangerous to go into the fire. There will be smoke and it might be hazardous, even for you. You don't want—" but then, he found himself talking to empty air. Bewildered, Tails peered down just in time to see a blue ball spin dashing down to the woods, a trail of blue light behind it.

"Nice try Tails," Knuckles muttered. "There's no stopping that hedgehog when his mind is set on something." Tails sighed in defeat. "You're right Knuckles," he agreed with the red echidna. Stopping the X-Tornado's flight, he turned to the red Mobian and asked, "So…down?" Knuckles didn't answer straight away, but in the end, he let out a sigh and waved his hand. "Yeah, I guess so." And so the plane slowly descended down into the burning woods.

From the sky, something black flew past, and then disappeared into the distance.

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If plants could smoke, this tree was definitely doing it.

Sonic stood deliberately next to a blackened tree, its trunk literally wheezing smoke as it crackled and groaned. Around him, the fire was still going, licking their way up trunks and burning away any sap left. The ground was covered with ash and the place reeked of gasoline.

_This is no wildfire_, Sonic thought. Even he knew the way wildfires moved. They burned along in almost a natural way, their form flowing in an almost a definite pattern, forward and always consuming things close to it. This fire was crazy, having no flow whatsoever. It attacked the trees as if it were prey and hungrily burned out its life source. He had even scoured the area and had found numerous spots of the forest on fire, all spread out from one another. Unless the fire had suddenly grown wings and flew to different parts of the forest, something or someone had purposely put them there. The gasoline smell said it all.

But still, he felt utterly useless, standing in the midst of a burning forest. He had no water source to put it out, and he had already tried running around at supersonic speed, hoping the wind from his speed would cease the flames. A futile attempt.

"Whoever set this place on fire has a lot of nerve," he mumbled to himself. "I hope no one got hurt, especially if there was a town or something here. I wonder—" he coughed, the thick and smoky air catching in his throat. _Tails and Knuckles had better hurry up,_ he thought,_ or else I'll be nothing but ashes at this rate._

Speak of the devil, the sound of running footsteps sounded behind him, and soon enough, two very sweaty and sooty Mobians came up and flanked his two sides.

"We, got, here, as, fast, as, we, could," Tails panted and stopped to catch his breath. In his hands was a very strange looking device, well, part of the device. He was holding a nozzle connected to a long tube. The tube was connected to a now very ashy box like thing that rolled on wheels. When Sonic turned around, he could see two parallel lines trailing away into the distance, the path of which Tails had wheeled it here. On the side of the box, there were two switches, one green and one red, probably on and off. All in all, it looked like a vacuum cleaner, the old fashioned kind.

"Um…what is that?" the blue hedgehog questioned curiously, pointing at the contraption. Tails wiped his hands on his legs and straightened again, a little bit of sweat clinging onto his forehead fur.

"Whew, it's hot here. Oh, this thing? It's kind of like...sorta like, it's a contraption made to withdraw hydrogen molecules from oxygen, or any other simple element, although I do not really know if the processor inside will take in CH3OH, because it's a compound. It seems like that is what is fueling the fire, although it's more of a cooking fuel, and it can also be very poisonous. I think if I extract some from C3H8 and then from 5O2 I might be able to…"

"English!" Knuckles exclaimed, covering his ears. "You're making my ears bleed!"

Sonic thought that it was impossible for Knuckles' ears to bleed, probably because he didn't really _have_ any visible ears, but he decided to let the matter drop. He agreed, "Yeah buddy, I'm sorry, but the science lesson will have to wait. We are kinda running out of time." The tree in front of them was starting to bend, heat emitting from its wood like sunrays. Smoke billowed into their faces, causing them to gag. Tails sweat-dropped, embarrassed at his behavior and stammered, "S-sorry. Anyway, this thing can extract water from things. I already have some water in here, but it might not be enough…" Before he could finish the sentence, Sonic stepped forward and took the nozzle from his friend's hands, confusing him greatly. Sonic stepped back with the nozzle and winked at the young fox, exclaiming, "That's great Tails, water is what we need, even if it isn't my favorite thing. But you'd better leave this to me." And with that, he pointed the nozzle to the burning tree in front of them and flipped the switch to the green side.

Instantly, water blasted out of the nozzle in a spray of white, covering the tree from branch to roots. The fire sputtered out, dying down to a flicker, and even that was gone as the water dripped off of the tree. Unfortunately, the poor tree's trunk had already been burned dry, and because of the sudden coolness and dampness, the trunk was unable to sustain its own weight and it snapped in two and toppled to the floor, the branches rattling against the ground.

Sonic had gotten some water droplets in his face from the force, and he shook his head to get rid of the water.

"Ugh. Wow, this thing is good. I think I'll go and put out some more fires, k? Be back in a sec," and before the other two could protest, he started to run really fast, the container bumping violently behind him as he started to spray at more trees. Soon, the whole place was covered with water spray, and as Tails and Knuckles waved the air in order to see, Sonic was long gone, busy spraying other parts of the woods.

"Why is it that _we _always get left behind?" Knuckles grumbled. He bent down and examined the fallen tree that Sonic had first put out, poking at its branches. "Show off." Tails just smiled ruefully at the echidna and faced the other way, staring through the woods. The water spray was slowly dissolving in the air, and all the trees that had been in flames stood wet and desolate in their spots, water dripping down into a puddle. It seemed that his invention was working, which was a good thing. Soon, they would be able to diminish the fire completely, and things would calm down then.

But something still bothered him. He wasn't sure if Sonic or Knuckles had noticed, but he sensed something wrong, other than that the fire had been purposely set. He felt as if he was being watched, even when Sonic had been putting the first tree out, he had sensed something behind him, and as he turned around in a full circle, his whiskers started to tingle. Something, or someone was definitely watching, he could feel it. Moving a bit closer to Knuckles, who was still crouching, he started to say, "Hey Knuckles. I have this weird feeling we're being…"

His sentence was cut off when something flitted through the forest, and he nearly stumbled backwards in surprise. (Good thing he didn't, or else he would've stepped on Knuckles' tail.) The "thing" was zigzagging in a strange way, almost like a snake, and as he watched, it disappeared into the woods.

Heading straight to where Sonic had run off.

"Knuckles! We got to follow it!" Tails exclaimed urgently, shaking his friend's shoulder. The red echidna looked up at him with surprise.

"Follow what?" He had been concentrating on the fallen tree, figuring out how it had burned. It definitely had been an artificial fire, but why would someone start one? Accident? Tails said it was a cooking fuel that had set the woods on flames, which meant someone could've been camping here and had accidently forgot to diminish the flame. Or worse, living here.

"Something! It looked like a giant snake, but I can't be sure. Anyway, it's going the way Sonic went!" Tails cut through his thoughts abruptly and tugged at his hand. Knuckles reluctantly got up from his position, brushing his sooty locks of hair out of his face. He looked at where Tails was pointing and shrugged. He wasn't particularly fond of staying here any longer, in fact, he was supposed to be heading back to Angel Island to guard the Master Emerald, not stick around at a burnt site.

"So what? It could be anything. Maybe someone else is here trying to put out the fire, or maybe they were escaping from the fire. We should just head back to the Tornado—hey!"

But Tails was certain that the Mobian he had seen was pursuing Sonic, and he didn't give Knuckles a chance to finish. Instead, he started to drag the squirming echidna the way the Mobian had went, his hands firm.

"Don't worry, we'll just check it out. Besides, what if it's the person who burned this forest in the first place?" He stated, moving along. He also added, "We won't be long, so you don't have to worry bout the Master Emerald either, okay?" At his comment, Knuckles flushed but tried to cover it up by saying, "What? I wasn't even thinking about heading out! I'll, but, what, erg; I'll get you for that…" and the two disappeared between the trees.

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**Whew! Congrats, u've just finished another chapter. Well honestly, all I can say is that I feel bad for Knuckles XD And later, you'll feel bad for Tails' water machine as well. You'll have to find out why. ;) **

**Thanks to anyone who views and reviews! It is very much appreciated! **


	3. Chapter 2: Black and a Tinge of Aqua

**__****And another giant page full of text. My bad...anyway, while Sonic's off putting out trees, Knuckles and Tails run into some...trouble. So does the water machine. :P And Sonic makes a surprising discovery. **

**We finally get some fighting scenes! (well, not super action packed or anything, so don't get your hopes up ****_too _****high) Enjoy.**

**I do not own any SEGA characters. **

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**_Chapter 2: _**

_Black and a tinge of Aqua _

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"That's probably all," Sonic said to himself, surveying the area with satisfaction. "And good thing too, because the extracting machine ran out of water."

He was perched on the top of a fir tree, his feet balancing nimbly on the thin point. From his position, the woods were spread out in front of him, or, what was left of the woods. Trees stood burnt and black, no longer holding the shady leaves that had blocked the sunlight for decades. Other trees were on the ground, bent and twisted into gruesome shapes. It was a little sad to see such a forest to be wiped out, and Sonic felt his fists clench slightly with anger. If he ever found the person responsible, he would give him a piece of his mind.

The strong breeze was pushing all of the remaining smoke away, and from his view, he could tell all the fires had been put out. That was good. At least he had prevented the fire from raging any further. Parked below the fir tree he was on was the water machine, drained and empty of water. Because of Sonic's speed, the poor wheels were worn, and one of them was coming loose. The blue hedgehog hoped Tails would forgive him for ruining his invention, and he quickly leaped off of the tree and landed on his feet, kicking up some dirt during the process.

"Well, I guess this means I'll head on back now," he said aloud. A bit disdainfully, he glanced at the contraption and sighed. "I'll have to lug this thing back too. Hope Tails understands." Picking up the nozzle and slinging it over his shoulder, he started to trudge back the way he had come, deciding not to run fast and ruin the machine even further. At least the forest would be safe. He hoped any innocents who had been here during the fire had also escaped. Kicking a pebble out of the way, he started to trek up a slope.

That was when he stumbled across a strange looking depression in the ground.

He hadn't noticed it before, probably because he had been zipping by at full speed, and he stopped now, looking curiously at it. It looked like a claw, with three ends going up straight in the front with one other one curving down to the side. It was also quite large, a bit bigger than his foot. Was it a talon mark? Or was it something else? To him, it looked like a print of a reptile's, but he wasn't sure. Shrugging, he stepped over it and continued his slow pace, the machine rattling behind him.

After trekking for some time, he turned around and stopped to look back the way he had come. Because all the trees were either dead on the ground or burnt dry, it was easy to see from his vantage point, and he could see far away where the trees came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the woods, probably because of a cliff side? As much as he wanted to explore, he knew he had to get back to Tails and Knuckles. And he wasn't particularly fond of lugging a machine around with him during his exploration. Sighing, he turned around.

And he came face to face with an arrow shaft.

It was sticking straight out of a tree's trunk like, well, like an arrow that had been shot at a target, except the target was a tree. Taking a step back, the hedgehog put the nozzle down and went up to examine it, running a hand along the side. It was a deadly thing, pure black with sharp, narrow fletching. Where the arrow had hit the tree was a ring of black that expanded upwards, as if it had spilled some of its own blackness into it, or as if it had set the tree on fire. His eyes narrowed. Now that he thought of it, he was sure that he was correct. The arrowhead was buried deep inside of the tree, and the spot where the arrow had made contact with bark was burnt and scorched. The spot was even smoking a little, and he knew that whoever had shot this arrow, there had been fire flickering on the tip.

"So, some crazy lunatic was shooting fire arrows eh?" Sonic murmured, taking his hand away from the weapon. "Typical." He turned to look at the way he had come, feeling curiosity and yet again the urge to investigate further course through him. Maybe, the crazy lunatic was still here, and he could catch him and ask him a few questions. What's the big deal, shooting fire arrows in the middle of a forest? Hesitantly, he shook his head. "I can't. I have to get back to Knuckles and Tails. They will be wondering where I am, and I can't…"

Unfortunately, sometimes one's willpower wasn't enough to overpower one's curiosity, and before he had even finished his statement he was already sprinting away downhill once again into the distance.

The water machine stood desolately where Sonic had left it, and after a few minutes, the wheel that was loose detached itself with a mournful _creak_ and began rolling across the floor.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," the blue hedgehog said to himself, surveying the area with wide eyes. He had arrived at the place where

he had seen the forest come to an end, and in front of him, a sheer cliff side dropped dizzyingly down to more forest grounds below. The wind was particularly strong here, and as he walked slowly around the clearing in a large arc, he could smell something faint yet definite in the breeze, a smell he knew very well.

Blood.

Not only that, the clearing was filled with more of the strange prints he had seen earlier, and from what he could tell, there had been something else here as well, something or someone a lot smaller. Not only were there claw prints, there seemed to be another type of print. It looked like a shoe had made it, and as Sonic walked up to it and carefully placed his own foot across it, his foot and the print was nearly the same size.

"A hedgehog maybe? Or a fox? Certainly not echidna, they are too narrow" he muttered to himself, examining the prints. Some of the claw-shaped prints had been imprinted quite deep into the ground, but then some of them, he walked over to investigate, seemed to have left skid marks across the ground, leaving thin and jagged lines trailing in the dirt. The smaller prints had also seemed to leave skid marks in the ground, but they abruptly were cut of by a deep depression. Next to the depression was a handprint, a hand very much like his own. When he placed his hand over it, his was slightly larger. Then, splattered brownish red blots (which he assumed was the blood) collected in a large blob on the ground, and leading from the pool, the blood had trailed or dripped across the ground, to the cliff side, and then it was gone.

"Man, it looks kind of like a crime scene. It seems as if the claw-marked creature had been cornering the smaller print creature. They had a fight, and then the smaller creature got injured somehow. Now, it seems as if he or she has committed suicide," he summed it up, rubbing his chin. When it came to things like this, the blue Mobian wasn't a professional, but he was sure that something like this had happened. Peering over the edge of the cliff, he started to weigh his choices. He could go down to investigate further, and maybe even find the Mobian who had jumped off, or he could break his neck. Either choice involved jumping off the cliff, so he naturally picked the first one.

But if he were to jump down to the forest grounds below, (which was a _really _long drop) he would have to calculate the move carefully. Too fast, he would jar his muscles and probably be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and too slow would mean a very ugly and bloody splat. He had to do this just right.

Slowly, he started to back away from the cliff, the wind tugging at his hair. He momentarily closed his eyes, picturing him jumping off of the cliff, angling his body so that it was at a slanted angle with the ground. If there were a lake right below the cliff, he would be done for. He shuddered at the thought and opened his eyes again, rocking forward on his heels. "Here goes nothing," he exclaimed, and with incredible speed, he sped towards the cliff, feeling the wind in his face, and felt the tip of his shoe push off of the edge.

And then he was flying.

The speed of his take-off boosted him through the air for a few seconds, allowing him to feel the sensation of gliding through the air. He had always been slightly jealous that Tails and Knuckles could fly, and right now, he spread his arms wide to catch the air current, imagining he was a bird. _Sure, a blue and peach bird with spikes and a muzzle, but still a bird_, he mused to himself.

And then he was falling. His body started to drop fast, the gravity pulling him downwards to the ground. Sonic quickly tucked his arms beside his body and did a somersault in mid-air so that his head was facing downwards. He kept his body stiff and straight as his speed increased, diving down like bullet from the sky. When he was sure he was in the right spot, he quickly curled up into a ball and performed a spin dash, spinning in a blue blur as he headed towards the forest grounds.

He almost thought he was going to make it. His timing had been pretty precise, and as the forest grew nearer, he started to uncurl from his spin dash and tense his body for the landing. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite considered during his plan about how he was going to land without getting the tip of a tree speared through his body. He realized, too late, his mistake now as he plummeted towards one particularly sharp fir tree, his eyes widening.

"Oh my GOSSHHH!" His shout was torn away from his mouth as he swung his feet out abruptly and hastily to dodge the obstacle, attempting to kick himself off of the tree's tip. Luckily, his quick reflexes allowed him to launch himself successfully off of the tree, and he almost let out a sigh of relief as he pushed himself away from it, the air rushing past him.

Almost. If he hadn't crashed into a very large oak tree right beside of the fir tree.

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"Tails, where do you think this little expedition will lead to anyway?" Knuckles asked, pushing a branch away. The fox was scurrying in front of him, desperate to catch up with his hedgehog friend. They had been trekking through the forest for a while now, and the echidna was starting to get impatient. The air still vaguely smelled of water spray, thanks to Sonic's little heroic deed. The echidna sighed, stopping to stand next to a blackened tree. He punched a hand into it, hearing the bark crack under his pressure and slowly pulled it out again, only to have his hand covered with soot. Wiping it away with disgust, he stared at the pathetic scene in front of him. Burned trees, dead trees, trees that had stood for how long…all gone. It was a little depressing.

"We're going to find Sonic, as I already said," Tails replied firmly, not realizing that the red Mobian had stopped. "I'm _certain_ someone is following him. I don't think that someone is someone that would bring good. I—" He suddenly stopped abruptly, letting out a gasp. Knuckles, who had been tuning out the fox's words with disinterest, jerked his head up and quickly rushed towards him, skidding to his side.

"What?" he asked him, peering around them. They were standing on the top of a slope, and in the distance, the blackened trees came to a stop, probably the edge of the forest. But Tails wasn't staring at that. Instead, he rushed up to a burnt fir tree and knelt down next to the base of the tree, exclaiming, "What did Sonic _do _to it? It took me forever!" Confused, Knuckles went up to where Tails was crouching and saw the object he was holding in his hands. He sighed with relief when he realized what it was, and that the fox hadn't seen anything dangerous, but then he rolled his eyes with irritation.

"Oh, the watermabober right? What about it?" he said, peering at the machine. Indeed, a disgruntled Tails was clutching the "watermabober" tightly, his hands poking the bottom of the machine as if his finger was a screwdriver. He glanced up at Knuckles despairingly. "The wheels! They are ruined! And the whole bottom part is scraped. The nozzle is loose too…and where is Sonic? He just left it here…and it's missing a wheel as well!"

The echidna had to admit; the machine had definitely seen better days. Now, it was practically junk with its wheels messed up like that, one as Tails said, missing. He shook his head morosely; count on that hedgehog to be so reckless. That flaw of his was going to be the death of him one day. Putting a hand on the fox's shoulder, he tried to cheer him up, "Don't worry, it's just a machine, er…yes, a helpful one, but at least it's done its purpose. Besides, Sonic isn't careful enough." _Where is he anyway?_ He thought moodily in his head. He raised his head and glanced up at the sky above them, the sun shining midway in the expanse of blue. Noon. He wanted to get this over with and hurry back already. Besides, he was hungry. "I'll make sure to beat him up afterwards ok? Let's just—"

His voice was cut off when something whizzed past his head and thudded into the fir tree next to them with a loud _thump_, not before taking a chunk of his hair during the process.

"What the—"

"Knuckles! Watch out!" Tails cried out and the red echidna instantly dropped to his knees, another thing shooting past the place where his head had been. Tails was curled up behind him, shaking slightly with fear, and Knuckles growled and faced the tree. Sticking out of its trunk were two, black arrows. _What the hell…?_ Knuckles whirled around just in time to hear a crunch sound, and then caught sight of a pair of two, yellow eyes glaring out at them from behind a tree. Bewildered, he leaped to his feet and raised his two, spiked fists, baring his teeth at the attacker. Tails peered around the echidna and also saw the eyes, gulping a little when he saw them.

"That…that's the one who was following Sonic!" he squeaked, his tails twitching. He got to his feet and came to stand next to the echidna, trying to stay calm. Sonic wouldn't want him to freak out at a time like this. He had to be strong, like Knuckles.

The two eyes blinked slowly, as if bored with their talk, and then, a low hiss emitted from the shadows, "My my, what have we got here? Two little creaturess where they don't belong? Interessting." The figure came out of its hiding spot, melting from the burnt tree like a ghost, taking its blackness with it. As it advanced towards them, the two Mobians could see the black cape that was covering the creature's body, obscuring all its features. The two yellow eyes, however, was the only thing visible on its face, and as it slinked towards them, it moved like a snake, moving in a side to side motion. Except it had four, scaly limbs, each one showing visible, wicked claws that left jagged marks across the ground. Slung on its back was a casket of arrows, all as black and wicked as itself, and a red longbow that gleamed like blood in the sunlight.

The creature came to a stop in front of them, and as Knuckles glared at it, he realized that it was much bigger than both of them. Where the heck did it come from? One moment, it wasn't there, and the next, it had nearly taken his head. "What the hell are you supposed to be? A mutant snake with legs?" he growled with disgust, although he was slightly impressed at its sleek posture. It was probably a very quick creature, although nowhere near as fast as Sonic.

His answer seemed to provoke the creature, for it hissed angrily at him and spat, "How many of you ssstupid woodland creaturesss misstaken me as that reptile coussin of mine? I am much more!" With no warning, it lashed a claw at them, the points gleaming as it slashed through the air. Knuckles quickly jumped backwards, towing Tails with him, and dodged the unexpected attack. _It's certainly pretty fast, _he thought in his head grimly. Next time, he might not be so lucky. "You do talk a lot like one though," he persisted, pushing Tails behind him protectively. "And I am no woodland creature, you idiot." The young fox tried to resist Knuckles hold, but the echidna turned around and whispered urgently in his ear, "Look, I know you want to prove yourself, but something tells me this isn't one of Eggman's robots. Just stay behind me and don't get hurt." Eventually, Tails stopped struggling. Knuckles had a point. But…he wanted to show that he didn't have to be defended all of the time, and that he could protect himself. He didn't want people thinking he was the weakling.

"And what was the deal anyway, shooting arrows at us? Do you want to feel my fists against your face? " Knuckles retorted angrily at the creature once more, raising his fists with the threat. Tails backed a little away from the red echidna. Knuckles had a bit of a temper, no; a BIG temper, and he didn't want to be near him when his fists were raised. The creature however, seemed unimpressed at Knuckles' threat and reared up on its hind legs, now towering over them like a bear over a rabbit. Hissing, the creature reached behind its back and drew a black arrow from its casket, fingering the tip of it with its sharp claw. "Oh, you mean thiss? Well, we hadn't been anticipating any…ssurvivorss. Or are you resscuerss?" It eyed them slyly and with deadly interest, their figures reflecting off of its eye. So there were three eh? He had seen another one of them race up ahead, and had attempted to follow it. But instead, he had caught the other two, how nice. He would just finish them off, and then resume hunting the other one down. They didn't need any…witnesses. Drawing a claw across the length of the arrow, he licked his lips, and for a second, Knuckles caught sight of the tongue. It was forked, like a lizard's.

A lizard.

"Is this a joke? Are you telling me that you were the one who burned down this forest?" Knuckles spat, taking a step forward. "And who is "we"? Are there more of you monstrous reptiles lurking around, waiting to take more innocent lives?" He tensed, wanting to tear out the creature's throat. Judging by the voice (although with all that whispery hissing, it was hard to tell) the creature was probably a he. It seemed likely that this bastard was the one who could've set the forest on fire. You don't see ordinary Mobians walking around with an ominous cape and deadly arrows slung on their back. It seemed too much of a coincidence that this reptile was here in the burnt forest. And now, he had nearly taken his life as well with those arrows of his.

But as much as he wanted to give him a piece of his mind, Knuckles knew he had to ask a few more questions. It didn't seem as if the creature had caught up to Sonic yet, which meant he was probably safe, but now, _they _were stuck here having to fight off a mutant reptile. Could this day get any more annoying?

The reptile did not answer them, and it continued to trail its claw across the arrow shaft. His forked tongue flitted out of his mouth again, as if he were tasting the air, and with a jerk, he stopped fingering the arrow and peered at them through his cowl. Two. A good number for a killing, although the more the merrier. "What a sshame. I'm afraid I don't have the time to introduce mysself. I'm impressed you are not dead already, although you were deaf enough to not hear my approach? Or iss it the lack of having visible earss the casse, ant eater?" Knuckles turned red with chagrin, but the creature went on, "You sshould've flown passt thiss area, as Eclipse had obssserved. But no matter. I will jusst have to clean you up along with the resst of the dirt," and with that, he drew his bow, nocked the arrow all in one fluent and quick movement, and sent an arrow sailing straight towards them.

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"That would've been humiliating if it didn't hurt so much," Sonic grumbled sullenly as he walked aimlessly between the trees. Here, the fire hadn't reached the forest and the trees stood tall and leafy, blocking out the sunlight. The poor blue hedgehog had some leaves stuck in his quills, even after his desperate attempt to shake most of them out. When he had crashed headfirst into the oak tree, his head had gotten stuck in between two narrow branches, and it had taken him some time and effort to pull himself free. Not to mention getting his face stuck in a mass of leaves that had ants crawling on them. Now, his head hurt, his nose felt funny and his pride was ruined, (and he knew if Knuckles found out he would never let him hear the end of it) but his curiosity to search still remained strong. Although he was mostly just exploring random places, Sonic was planning to go back to where the cliff had been, so he could search the base of it. _If the small Mobian had jumped off, his or her body would probably be right below the cliff._ Of course, it wouldn't be pleasant to see a misshapen and bloody body, but he had to find out. Deep inside, he hoped that the Mobian was still alive so he could interrogate him or her and find out how the forest had burned. Maybe the Mobian would give him some answers.

Of course, if she or he weren't already dead.

Suddenly very impatient, Sonic broke into a run, careful to not crash into any more trees. It would save him and the tree injuries. The woods began to blur around him, everything whipping past him as he put on a burst of speed. He zigzagged through the forest that way until finally, a gray and black wall of rock started to appear above the treetops, looming higher and higher as he drew nearer and nearer. With a last little boost, the hedgehog burst out of the forest and skidded to a stop, leaving marks on the ground.

He was standing in a small space where the cliff base met ground, and no trees were growing here, probably because of the rocky terrain. Sonic glanced around, sniffing the air as he tried to pick out any strange scent. He caught a whiff of blood, and instinctively turned his head towards the smell. Where was it coming from? There were a few boulders located here and there, and he started making his way towards one smaller one. As he came closer, the smell grew farther away, and he stopped walking.

"Maybe that way…?" he asked himself and started heading towards the other direction. With all of this wind, it as hard to tell. He randomly walked behind a boulder, not expecting anything to be behind it.

He was wrong.

"Whoa!" he staggered back in surprise, taken a bit off guard at the sight in front of him. On the ground behind the boulder was a female Mobian, her body limp against the ground. She was pressed roughly against the boulder head first, and her face was covered with her hair, which was a mess. Her black top was torn and shredded, (fortunately not where her chest was) and her skin was covered with cuts and bruises. Sonic crept a bit closer, dropping to a crouch in front of the Mobian's head. So this was the smaller creature? He expected her to be more injured than that. Sure, she was bruised and cut pretty badly, but if she had jumped off the cliff, her body would've been crushed and her bones broken in awkward angles. These looked like wounds she would've received from the little skirmish she supposedly had with the larger creature up on the cliff. But there was no time to think about the matter. Broken bones or no, she was hurt. He tentatively reached forward and brushed the strands of hair out of her face, pushing them behind her shoulder. One accidently brushed his nose and he had a short sneezing fit. "That is the last time I get my head stuck in an ant mass," he grumbled. When he parted all of the hair, he let out a whistle and crossed his arms.

"A hedgehog? What did she do to get into this mess?" He brushed another strand of magenta hair out of her face, and momentarily felt something hard against his hand near her shoulder. Confused, he leaned forward and parted her hair (man, she had a lot) away from her shoulder blade. His eyes widened with disbelief when he saw the object buried in her shoulder, and he exclaimed, "So, the crazy lunatic was shooting arrows into people as well?"

Buried in her shoulder was another one of those black, deadly arrows, and her wound still dripped with blood, trickling down her arm and staining her shirt red. The tip had been driven pretty deep in her flesh, and as Sonic prodded further, he could tell that if it wasn't treated sooner or later, the wound was going to get affected. Of course, if she were already dead, then there would be no sooner or later. Gently, he pressed two fingers against her wrist, feeling for a pulse. To his relief, he felt a faint but still there drumming against her skin. She was going to have to be looked after, and when she got better, he would ask her a few questions and get to the bottom of this. The Mobian or Mobians she had been fighting were the same ones that had shot that fire arrow into the tree. Fortunately, they hadn't shot a fire arrow into her, or else she would've burned up. Although that did little to help the situation.

Carefully, he slid an arm under her back and hoisted her up against his body, careful not to jostle her shoulder and injure it further. That's when he noticed something else the girl was wearing, something around her neck. It looked like an aqua, diamond-shaped gem, its light pulsing and glowing brightly. Curious, he was about to touch it, but something held him back. This was a stranger. He had no right to go touching their personal items. And this seemed pretty valuable as well. Still…something seemed to be stopping him from touching it. Was it natural instinct? Was the gem dangerous somehow?

"Questions, questions, questions," he muttered to himself. With one last look around the area, and with one more futile shake of his head in an attempt to dislodge some of the leaves in his hair, he shuffled back a few steps, faced the tall cliff wall and sped towards it in a flash of blue light.

He hadn't noticed the black object that had been circling around the boulder high up in the sky the whole time, nor did he see it fly away into the trees.

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It was Tails who saved them.

When the arrow had been released from its bow, for a moment, Knuckles had frozen. It was as if his whole body had went into a lock down, and no matter how much his mind yelled at him to get a move on, he just couldn't move. He remembered the icy stare of the reptile's eyes, the hypnotizing stare, and realized that he was using it on him. Those yellow eyes bore into him, pinning him there against his will as the black arrow flew straight towards his face.

That was when Tails, who had been behind the echidna, saw the situation he was in and panicked. "No!" he shouted and without thinking, he jumped at the echidna and grabbed his arm. With a furious shake of his tails, he launched himself into the air, towing the red Mobian with him, and the black arrow sailed below Knuckles' shoes by a centimeter. Grunting with the effort of carrying a pretty heavy creature, Tails spun his tails faster and flew farther away from the reptile, meanwhile trying to shake Knuckles out of his trance.

"Knuckles! You got to fight it! I can't…hold on, any longer!" he panted, struggling with the weight of the echidna. Knuckles, still in a daze, slowly blinked a couple of times. Now that he had been broken away from the reptile's gaze, he could feel his body relaxing, as if thawing from ice, and he shook his head. Seeing this, Tails wavered and encouraged, "Yes that's it! I'm letting go now, ok? Hurry, the reptile is coming!" Sure enough, when the arrow had missed its mark, the cloaked figure had hissed with annoyance. How dare that flying fox intrude? And they thought _he_ was mutant. Wrapping the cloak tighter around its body, he dropped down to all fours and started to skitter across the ground towards them, the tip of what seemed like a tail trailing behind him during the process. Knuckles was starting to recover, and when he saw the reptile advancing towards them, he gritted his teeth and looked up at Tails. "When I let go, fly up and behind. I'll distract him from the front." Without waiting for a response, the echidna let go, feeling his body fall towards the ground rapidly. With a shake of his head, he let his locks of quills spread out and catch the wind. With a somewhat painful jerk, (mental note to self; release slower next time) he was pulled upwards about 3 feet and hovered tauntingly in the air in front of the charging reptile.

"Hey lizard! You tried to shoot me again with that arrow and failed thrice? You've got even worse aim than an amateur playing basketball!" he shouted, gliding back a little as the reptile let out a menacing hiss. What was this? The echidna could fly too? "Pathetic creature. You should've sstayed where you belonged!" The cloaked figure skidded to a stop a few feet in front of the gliding echidna, his tongue flicking, his eyes glowing. Knuckles carefully glanced upwards and to his relief, saw Tails hovering silently above the tree where the broken machine was parked. Giving him a silent nod, he mouthed the words, _Wait for my signal._ The fox nodded back, but he seemed a bit shaky. Poor kid. It wasn't everyday you get to see a mad mutant reptile with arrows. Now, the echidna let his quills fall and he dropped to the ground a few feet in front of the reptile. Baring his teeth, the echidna raised his two fists. The reptile crouched and clicked his claws against the ground. He pulled back his lips to reveal a row of sharp teeth. The two glared at each other like that for a few seconds, mammal against reptile, red against…the black cloak, because he couldn't tell what color the reptile was. With a tensing of his muscle, Knuckles took a step forwards, preparing to lunge.

And was cut off by a blue blur.

"Sonic!" A cry sounded from above the trees. Tails was flying in plain sight, waving desperately at the blue streak that had stopped at the hill's peak, and Knuckles felt like slapping his forehead. What was the fox thinking? Now they couldn't launch a sneak attack against the reptile. _This is exactly why I don't let you help,_ he thought irritably in his head. Meanwhile, the reptile had turned his head to look at the now new member, standing a few meters away from the two Mobians. A blue hedgehog, with leaves in his head, was standing there, his expression surprised at the sight of them poised to attack.

"Man, I leave for two seconds and you guys get into serious trouble," Sonic exclaimed, his nose twitching. He peered up at Tails flying in the sky, then at a bemused Knuckles, then finally at the cloaked figure, and he cocked his head to one side. "And what the heck are you supposed to be? A mutant snake with legs?" The reptile had just about enough of this same line being said over and over again, but something stopped him from lashing out. For in the arms of the blue hedgehog was a magenta one, unconscious and bleeding.

The girl. The blue hedgehog had found the girl. "How convenient," the reptile murmured with glee, his tongue flicking in front of him. Maybe it had been a good thing he hadn't caught up with the hedgehog. "It sseems that you've brought just what I needed. It'll ssave the trouble of me looking for her." Without paying attention to the fuming echidna in front of him, the reptile started to advance towards Sonic, his tail lashing back and forth. Sonic saw this and took a step back, tightening his grip around the girl's body. What did this guy want? The girl? But…suddenly, he caught sight of the figure's foot touch the ground, then rose just to leave a print similar to the ones he saw at the clearing. Three claws going up front, one curving down to the side. This was the larger creature, and this was the one who had burned the forest. Sure enough, he could see the casket of arrows mounted on his back and the red longbow slung across his shoulder. Sonic felt anger rise in him and he curled his lip. Taking a side step back, he replied cuttingly, "Oh, so you were the one who burned this forest down, weren't you? And you were the one who shot the arrow into this girl. You are quite the bad guy, aren't you?" He shot a glance at Tails hovering anxiously up ahead, then to Knuckles, who was standing there, a bit sour because of Sonic's interruption of the fight. (He loved a good battle.) _Cover me,_ he mouthed, inching further and further uphill as the reptile advanced. He couldn't fight with the girl in his arms, and he certainly wasn't going to put her down. The reptile wanted the girl, and so if her abandoned her, he would go straight for her, and the whole thing would be compromised. Whatever reason, he couldn't let the reptile snatch the girl away from him.

But there was something about those yellow eyes that unnerved him, the way their icy coolness bore into him, and as he retreated further, he felt himself stop and blink with confusion.

"Don't look into his eyes!" Knuckles roared, but it was too late. With a guttural growl, the reptile lunged and lashed his claws at Sonic's face. Tails let out a cry and tried to reach his friend, but he could tell he wouldn't make it. Sonic just had the time to twist his head and close his eyes when a miracle happened.

Apparently, the loose wheel that had detached itself from the "watermabobber" machine was still rolling along the ground, and it chose this very moment to roll beneath the reptile's feet.

When a giant, mutant reptile steps on a rolling object, let's just say it gets pretty ugly. The reptile lost his balance and he let out a shriek of surprise when his claws flailed and missed its mark, scoring the air just below Sonic's head. He fell forward, and Sonic just managed to yelp and leap backwards.

But not before the reptile's claws brushed against the blue gem around the unconscious girl's neck.

What happened next was not a pretty sight. In the split second when claw met gem, the gem started to glow immensely bright, growing hotter and hotter that even Sonic could feel the heat waves emitting from it. With wide eyes, he opened his mouth to say something, but then, bluish white beams of energy snaked its way up the reptile's arm, engulfing it with its light, and the reptile screamed and fell backwards, writhing painfully on the floor. He cursed and spat and writhed, but the beams kept thrumming with energy and piercing right through his body like electricity. They all watched as one beam snaked upwards and struck him in the chest, and just like that, his head snapped back and he went still. The beams of light retreated back to the gem and hummed once more before the gem went back to its usual glow.

For a moment, the three remaining Mobians were silent with shock. In front of Sonic, the reptile lay unmoving. Without a word, he approached him and peered down at the figure. No screaming. No thrashing.

He was dead.

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**O.o Well a few shocking stuff there. What happens next? **

**Please review! :)**


	4. Chapter 3: Lavendar

**Unfortunately this chapter is another huge block of text. Sorry, just gonna have to put up with that~ **

**I know there are some references to the Archie comics, but this story will NOT take place in the Archie world, (cuz I'm not a very big fan of the comics...) but some names and figures are taken from there just so I won't have to make up new characters or places ;) Sonic's parents and backstory was made by me. Enjoy reading. **

**SEGA characters rightfully belong to SEGA. Any Archie names belong to the comics. Lavendar, Senascor, Eclipse and Venars belong to Darks8728**

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**_Chapter 3: _**

_Lavendar_

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"Oh my gosh what just happened?" Tails flew to a halt behind Sonic, relieved that his friend was still in one piece, but a little shaken by the event that had just took place. Knuckles came trudging up the hill towards them and stared at the gem the girl was wearing around her neck, the light now pulsing as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Besides the fact that is just killed someone.

"I-I think I was right when I thought the gem was dangerous," Sonic managed to say after the long hesitation. He swallowed and glanced down at the gem, feeling power thrum and vibrate into the girl's body, and suddenly, she let out a weak groan. Startled, Sonic looked up and met his friend's gazes, their unspoken questions hanging in the still air.

"She's a survivor. I found her at the base of a cliff. It seems as if she had a fight with the reptile, and she's hurt," he explained urgently, hoisting the girl into a better position. "We should take her back to New Metropolis." He turned his attention back to the dead reptile on the floor, and he clenched his jaw. "Shall we see what's under that disguise first?" He started to make his way to the figure, but Knuckles suddenly stepped in front of him and glared haughtily at the startled blue hedgehog, and Sonic stopped walking.

"Um…what's up?" he asked, and Knuckles crossed his arms and gritted his teeth.

"Don't play dumb with me hedgehog. You don't really think that I'm just going to let you play leader and do all of the heroic stuff?" He kept a firm stand in front of the dead Mobian, blocking Sonic's path. "You always intervene. You could've let me kill that reptile." Sonic blinked and his eyebrows furrowed, annoyance starting to show on his face. He took a step forward and protested, "What? How was I supposed to know you were going to be fighting with a giant mutant snake? Come on knucklehead, you are so full of yourself. Besides, I can hardly say that taking off someone's cloak is 'heroic'." He rolled his eyes at his last sentence and tried to step around the echidna, but Knuckles stepped in front of him and growled, his eyes flashing. Echidnas were proud creatures, and he was already irked that Sonic had to interrupt a perfectly good battle. He felt that he should at least be the one to reveal who the attacker was. There would be some pride in that.

"No. I got into this situation, and I'll figure it out. I'll take care of this," he exclaimed. For a moment, the two Mobians stood face to face with each other, hedgehog against echidna, emerald green eyes against violet ones, blue against red. Sonic glared stubbornly at the echidna, while Knuckles glared angrily back. Both Mobians were unwilling to back down. A strong gust of wind blew through the trees, giving it a very nice effect. Tails was standing anxiously on top of the hill, not wanting his two friends to start fighting. Couldn't they tell that they had enough trouble on their hands to deal with already?

At last, Sonic, the one with the softer heart, shifted his gaze and bowed his head in defeat, a small sigh escaping his lips. "Because you are _so_ difficult…" he muttered, and slowly, he backed away from the victorious echidna and came to stand next to Tails, his ears twitching. When the young fox looked at him curiously, Sonic just shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Beats me Tails. I think I'm going soft." At that, a small smirk tugged at his lips as he watched the red echidna harrumph and walk purposefully up to the dead reptile. _Count on Knuckles to be so…proud, _he thought.

Knuckles bent down next to the reptile's head, scanning over the dead body as if pondering what could be under it. _I'm going to find out, _he thought, and with a yank, he tore the cloak away and threw it behind him, the cloth billowing in the air.

And found nothing.

"What is this?" Knuckles stepped back in shock. Tails and Sonic rushed up to him only to see the exact same thing as the echidna.

Nothing. Absolute nothing. Where the body should've been was just plain ground, and even a few marks, but other than that, the body was gone. Tails wrung his tails nervously, his eyes darting about as if he expected the ghost of the reptile to come out and spook him, and with a small voice he said, "But…I could've sworn…"

"The gem," Sonic suddenly interrupted Tails sentence. He stared at the aqua gem glowing peacefully on the girl's neck, his jaw hardening. "It must be. We all saw that little episode that happened with the crazy beams and such. What better explanation is there?" He stared at the empty spot of ground, remembering the reptile's screams of agony, and then the beam that cut off his life. It must've been the gem's doing.

"But _how?_" Knuckles fumed, his eyebrow twitching. Now that he had recovered from the shock, he was in an even worse mood than before. The twitching eyebrow said it all. Why did things never go how he wanted it to? He wanted to kill the reptile, boom, Sonic appears. He wanted to be the one who revealed his identity, boom, the body is gone. "You're saying that some girl's necklace just killed the reptile? And then the body disintegrated in thin air?" He crossed his arms. "I don't believe it."

Sonic sighed at the echidna. "Look, I don't know what really happened, but whatever caused this…crazy—"

"Phenomenon," Tails piped in and Sonic glanced sidelong at him.

"…yeah, what Tails said, it's definitely not cool. We can't do anything now but take this girl back and get her to a hospital." As if to prove his point, a trickle of blood leaked down onto his hand and stained his glove red. He continued, "Maybe she'll even give us information that'll untangle this…"

"Phenomenon." Tails piped in again, causing Knuckles to scowl.

"All right, enough with the "phenomenon" Tails. I don't care anymore, let's just go," he muttered, stalking away from the place where the body should've been. He stood with his back facing the other two Mobians, glaring at the black cloak that had fallen on the ground. _Stupid, stupid reptile_ he thought in his head. So what if some gem killed him? Now they had no way of telling who had really been under that disguise. What a waste. He heard Sonic saying something to Tails, something along the lines of "don't mind that knucklehead" but he ignored it and replayed the time when the reptile had first stepped out of the woods. The mounted arrows, the bow, the black cloak, those paralyzing eyes…suddenly, he remembered a certain sentence that the reptile had said. _"Well, we hadn't been anticipating any…ssurvivorss." _

"We need to get out of here," Knuckles whirled around, surprising the hedgehog and the fox. The two looked at each other, then Sonic faced Knuckles and asked, "What is it?" The urgent look on his face told the hedgehog that the echidna was no longer sulking (at least for now). Knuckles turned halfway, facing the way they had come.

"The reptile had hinted that there were more of its kind here." He turned his head and locked gazes with the blue hedgehog. "If you want to save that girl, we might as well head out. You can't fight with her in your arms." With a jerk, the echidna started to run up the hill, his red locks of hair flying behind him. Confused by the echidna's sudden change of mood, Sonic started to run after him, holding the girl close to his chest. _Wait, there were more of them? So the one that just died wasn't the only one?_ He thought. Tails followed suit, whirling his tails so he could fly after his best friend. Meanwhile, Sonic shouted, "Hey Knuckles! What's the big deal? You said earlier that you wanted to kill the reptile! Why are you suddenly running away from them? De—" The echidna in front of him suddenly stopped and turned around, causing Sonic to stop talking and skid to a stop in front of him just inches away from his face. Knuckles stared hard at him, his posture stiff, his eyes impassive. Sonic blinked and cocked his head, his own eyes narrowing with suspicion. "What, is today your 'mood swings' day?" he asked. For a minute, Knuckles didn't move. The two stood facing each other, with Tails still flying to catch up.

The next second, the echidna's hand suddenly shot out and hit Sonic hard on the head. The hedgehog let out a grunt of surprise and he staggered backwards. He nearly regained his balance, until he stepped on the same wheel that the reptile stepped on, (and that had decided to choose that specific spot to stop rolling.) Poor Sonic lost his balance, and without his arms to help him, he fell on top of his own spikes and slid down the hill, surprising Tails as he fell with a thud at the bottom. Spitting dirt out of his mouth, feeling the chunks of dirt joining the leaves in his hair, he quickly but clumsily leapt to his feet and sped to the top of the hill, stopping right in front of the echidna.

"What the heck was that for?" he growled, his eyes flashing with annoyance as he yanked at his hair, wincing when he strained his spikes. Seems like they had gotten bruised. Luckily the girl was still unharmed. He had instinctively covered her body with his arms and head so she wouldn't suffer any more injuries. He rubbed his sore head and watched as a small smirk tugged at Knuckles' lips.

"I promised Tails I would beat you up for ruining his machine. I've just fulfilled that promise." He turned around. "Don't question me hedgehog. When I say go, I mean it." And with that, he walked purposefully the other way, leaving a very bruised and bemused Sonic standing there, watching him go.

"Are you ok?" Tails replied with sympathy when he caught up, landing on the ground and standing next to Sonic. Count on those two to be so violent. He had just watched a reptile die, and now, he had to look at his bruised best friend. With leaves and dirt in his hair. Sonic just shook his head, his face clearly showing that he was flustered.

"Echidnas," he muttered after some time. "And wheels," and he took Tails' hand and sped off after the retreating figure.

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She was alive. She could feel it.

Besides the aching pain in her shoulder, the fact that she could still feel the warmness of her gem on her chest told her that she was not dead. But how? She should be dead. She remembered the blood, the black figures, and how she had jumped off of the cliff. Then…nothing. But then, during her unconsciousness, she was certain that deep deep down in the reservoirs of her drifting mind, she had felt…someone. The warm glow of someone's green light breaking through the blackness, and she had clung onto that light like a moth to a light bulb.

But now, the light was no longer as bright as before. It seemed to stay just out of her reach, like an illusion that couldn't be caught. And to her surprise (if it was possible to be surprised in her semi-consciousness), another glow was hovering right beside her, not as strong and warm as the other glow, but still, a glow. Who was it? Where was she? She had to wake up.

"Dr. Quack, stop. You're freaking me out," Sonic retorted and scooted farther away. He was in a hospital room with the girl lying in a bed. Truthfully, he hadn't thought he would've survived the way home. When he had caught up to Knuckles back at the woods, he had made sure to sit _inside_ the plane, just in case if the echidna decided to push him off of the plane or do anything else unexpected. One couldn't be too sure, especially around that hardhead. Fortunately, he did survive, (and thankfully Knuckles was far away on Angel Island), and to make it better, he had managed to get all of the leaves and mud out of his hair. He still had bruises, but he could shoulder it. He had reassured Tails that he would be fine and that he would skip lunch for a day. (Although his stomach complained consistently.) He had felt that he should be the one to stay so that if the girl woke up, he could ask her some questions.

Now he was starting to think if his choice had been wise.

"Sonic, out of all the Mobians on this planet, I hadn't thought that an old coot like me would've scared you," an old yellow duck in a white coat exclaimed gruffly, his back turned. Dr. Quack, doctor of New Metropolis was holding a needle with his right wing, examining the tip. He was, as he said, an old duck but a very experienced doctor, and as he turned around again to face the hedgehog, a black patch was covering his left eye, due to the fight he had been caught in years ago. Sadly, his eye hadn't made it, but other than that, he was still fit and healthy enough to do the job he loved.

And to scare his patients at the same time.

"Yeah, but I can't help it if a doctor is pointing a needle at me like a lance," Sonic complained, his ear twitching. True, Sonic had been just a bit too curious with the doctor tools and had accidently dropped a needle. Dr. Quack had given him a petty yet enough to send chills-up-his-body warning, picking up the needle and pointing it at him like a sword, threatening him that if he didn't behave he would give him a dose of whatever was inside. The doctor harrumphed and waddled away from Sonic, rummaging with more doctor instruments on the counter. "Well, I can't help it when youngsters like you mess around with my tools. Now where did I put that…" he trailed off, pushing more instruments aside. Sonic watched him for a minute, and then he relaxed and resumed watching the girl. Dr. Quack wasn't going to kill him. Hallelujah.

So far, nothing had happened. Well, nothing out of the ordinary. The girl's shoulder had been cleaned and bandaged, and the black arrow lay on a tray next to the bed, the tip also cleaned. Parts of her body were also covered with bandages, and on her neck her gem still hung from its mahogany chord. Sonic had told Dr. Quack to leave it as it was, leaving out why because he felt that he shouldn't give away too much. Fortunately, the doctor hadn't questioned him and had left the gem untouched.

Sonic propped his chin up with his hands. Who were those reptiles, and what did they want from her? If only she would wake up, then he could ask her…

Suddenly, his gaze shifted to the black arrow on the tray. Although it was still and not pierced into anything, he still despised it. But now that he thought of it…maybe, the arrow would have something on it that would give him a clue to who those reptiles really were. Like an initial of some sort. He rose from his chair and went to the tray. Picking it up, he turned the weapon over and over in his hands, holding it up to his face to see if he could find anything. Skimming a finger down the shaft, he felt it up and down, turning it around, and then, when he reached the bottom of the arrow, he felt a depression. Looking to where his finger was, he could just make out the faint outline of an etching in the shaft, and he turned to Dr. Quack.

"Hey Doctor, do you have a microscope or something?" Sonic asked, and the duck turned around. He peered at the arrow Sonic was holding and waddled towards him, fishing around in his coat pocket. He murmured, "What do you need that for? Are you planning on dropping it again?" Sonic rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently as the doctor pulled at his pocket. "No, I think there is something on the arrow, some sort of initial," he explained, and the duck peered at him with his one eye. With a flourish, he pulled a magnifying glass out of his pocket and handed it to Sonic, although he seemed very reluctant to do so. He stated, "Well, if there is a clue to find out how the young lady has gotten so injured, I'll be glad to be of assistant, but—" he paused dramatically, "don't drop the magnifying glass. It's glass, and it'll break." Sonic suppressed rolling his eyes again and instead just took the glass and held it close to the arrow. "Geez Dr. Quack, you're even worse than my mom," he muttered, yet in a playful manner. Dr. Quack may seem like a bother, but inside, the hedgehog respected him, for he was the one who nursed him back to health countless times. He wouldn't be here if it weren't for him.

Squinting into the glass, Sonic held it at the right angle so he could see the etching better. For a moment, the image was blurred, but soon enough, he could see a faint outline of a letter etched into the shaft. There was also a peculiar little jagged slash going right through the initial as if someone had dragged a needle across.

"It looks like a letter 'S' with a slash going through it," Sonic clarified, his nose twitching. "Who could that be? A lot of people have S's at the start of their name…"

"Such as 'Sonic'" Dr. Quack cut in, eyeing him meaningfully and Sonic shot him a look.

"Look, I don't use arrows. Weapons just aren't my thing," he retorted, handing the glass back to the duck. "Besides, it could've been the reptile's name. I don't know, but—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence, because suddenly, the girl behind him groaned and shifted on the bed. Dr. Quack nearly dropped his own magnifying glass (how ironic) and he turned around and waddled to the side of the bed. Sonic slapped the arrow back onto the tray, was faster and made it there first, earning himself a disapproving "hrm" from the duck, but he ignored him and peered down at the awakening survivor with curious eyes.

_She's waking,_ he thought. Sure enough, the female hedgehog scrunched her eyes for a second and then slowly opened them, squinting against the bright light. She blinked rapidly and attempted to block her eyes with her hand, but it must've been stiff and sore for she clawed weakly at the air and let her arm drop to her side, looking anguished. Dr. Quack must've noticed, for he bent forward a little and spoke gently, "Miss? How are you feeling?" The hedgehog jerked at the sound of his voice and snapped her head towards the duck, her eyes wide. Her lip began to tremble a little, and then with a croak she stammered, "W-who are you? Where am I?" Dr. Quack suddenly straightened, cleared his throat and righted his eye patch with a dignified matter. Sonic rolled his eyes. _Here we go,_ he thought.

"I am Dr. Quack, physician of New Metropolis. You are in my hospital." When the girl just stared blankly at him, he cleared his throat again and explained, "You were quite injured, and Sonic here found you and brought you back." He gestured towards the blue hedgehog standing on the opposite side of the bed and the girl slowly turned her head to look at him. Sonic made eye contact with her and his ear twitched with surprise. Her eyes were a light, silvery gray like a pond being lit up by moonlight at night. They seemed to swirl and ripple like water, but he thought it was just his imagination. Smiling, he opened his mouth to say something, but the girl beat him to it and stuttered, "You're…you're the glow. The green light." Confused, Sonic just stared at her for a second, her expression fearful yet hopeful at the same time. He came up with the most plausible statement he could think of.

"Huh?" he managed to say and inwardly slapped himself. _What the heck? What type of response is 'huh'? Good job, hero. _He shook his head embarrassingly, but the girl seemed to not notice and her eyes became a bit distant, her long lashes brushing her skin.

"You…the light that kept me going," she murmured, and Sonic just got even more confused. What light? Him? He was a hedgehog, not a light. Did she mean savior? But how would she know he saved her? She had been unconscious…or had she?

Luckily, Dr. Quack stepped in and saved Sonic from feeling awkward of himself. With a firm hold, he pulled a tray up with a lot of needles on it and picked one up, facing the girl with a reassuring expression as her eyes widened with fear at the needle.

"Now now miss, I don't about this 'light' you are talking about, but for now, let's dismiss the matter. You can question Sonic later if you like." The girl kept a fearful stare on the needle he was holding, but not before she slid her gaze towards Sonic for a brief second. Sonic saw this and his eyebrows furrowed, and for some reason, he felt his face go warm. _What is with me today? _He scolded himself inside. The blue hedgehog kept on his calmest look as he watched Dr. Quack bend foreword and gesture towards the needle, explaining to the girl, "You were seriously injured on your shoulder, and in order to stop it from getting infected, I'm just going to give you this shot. It'll sting a little, but I reassure you the after effects will be satisfying. Just stay calm."

Sonic didn't think the girl looked so calm. Her eyes were huge and she had paled at his words, and with a trembling voice, she accused, "I don't know who you are. What if you are on _their_ side? How do I know I can trust you?" She tried to stabilize her voice but to no avail. Two thick and short locks of hair fell into her face and covered one of her eyes, covering her scared expression. Bangs. The gem on her neck started to glow and she pulled her covers up to her chin, biting her lip.

"I-I," she stammered, but Dr. Quack seemed to not hear her as he pulled her covers down and revealed her arm, poised over it. With a quick jerk of his head, he ordered, "Sonic. Hold her down while I do this. She's a bit shaky, and I don't want to pierce her at the wrong angle." Slowly, Sonic followed his words (although a little unsure of what to do) and decided to pull a chair up and sit down next to the girl. He gently placed a hand on her good arm and the girl flinched and stared into his eyes, her own gray eyes wide and swirling with emotions. Sonic felt a pang of sympathy for her; she had been hurt, and now, she was among people she didn't recognize. It must be overwhelming. "Don't worry. Dr. Quack may seem…weird sometimes," he coughed to cover it up so the duck wouldn't hear, "but he's a good doctor. He healed me a lot of times before." She held his gaze for a moment, and for a minute, it seemed as if her eyes bore right through him, looking into his very soul. He held her gaze, and she still looked a little wary, but eventually, she let her muscles relax. She turned her head and said sharply to the doctor, "If…if Sonic is telling the truth, then—"

Dr. Quack didn't wait for her to finish. He applied some liquid on her arm that smelled strongly of alcohol, and then he slowly pressed the needle into her arm. To Sonic's surprise, she didn't cry out, and instead, she watched the doctor with observing eyes as if ready to lash out if he did something to harm her. All the while, Sonic kept a lingering hand on her other arm, hoping that his touch would keep her from losing it. So far, she was doing pretty well.

Finally, Dr. Quack pulled the needle out of her skin and strapped a white bandage on, inspecting the tip of the needle. "See miss? No need to worry." He moved away from the bed, and right when he did so, a nurse knocked on the door and came in. The duck turned to face her and the two shared a hushed conversation. All the while, Sonic kept watching Lavendar's face, seeing her distant expression. What was she thinking?

When they finished, Dr. Quack straightened his eye patch and explained, "Sorry, I need to go see the other patients. I'll be back as soon as I can. Oh, and Sonic," he added as he turned around. "You can stay with her and ask questions," and with that he followed the nurse out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Now, the two were the only two in the room and Sonic suddenly felt a little edgy. He glanced at the girl and saw that she was watching him, her face no longer terrified with fear, nor distant. Instead, her gray eyes bore into him and she had a grim expression. The blue hedgehog took in a breath.

"So," Sonic decided to start conversational. He leaned against her bed and turned towards her. "You've been through an awful lot. Are you feeling ok?" He decided not to overwhelm her with the real questions he had in store. Best to get the basics down first.

The girl didn't answer for a moment, and she fiddled with the gem around her neck, its aqua glow casting light on her face. Finally, she faced him and stated sharply, "Sonic the hedgehog." Sonic's eyebrow went up in surprise, but she continued, "You love to move, never standing in one place. You help others when in need, like how you helped me. And you…you have a kind heart." For once, a smile tugged at her lips and she brushed her bangs out of her face. Meanwhile, Sonic stood, confused at her words. How, how did she…?

"Did you like, read my mind?" he asked finally, and the girl tilted her head back and her eyebrows furrowed as if not sure how to say choose the right words.

"Well, in a way, yes. You see, I can feel…emotions," she stated simply, fingering her gem. "I can also feel Aura, so I can determine a Mobian's personality. The reading mind part, well, judging by your moods, emotions, and Aura, I can kind of guess what you are thinking, most of the time…" she trailed off and peered at him curiously, and Sonic urged her, "Most of the time?" She gave a tiny smile.

"Well, some people are harder to read. I find you quite difficult to read your mind, to tell you the truth. It is easy to feel you Aura, but hard to read you mind. You have almost like a fog shrouding you thoughts."

"A fog, well," Sonic repeated that, rubbing his nose. "I have to admit I don't really outwardly…show extreme emotions, if that's what you call it." He sat down on the chair he pulled up earlier and propped his chin up with his hands. He asked, "So, you can read minds. That's pretty incredible." Actually, he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. First, the girl had a death-killer gem hanging around her neck, and now she claims to be a mind reader of some sort. He shook his head. If she could read minds, she probably heard that last statement (unless if his "fog" barriers were working.) That would've been embarrassing. "So, does this have anything to do with the 'green light' you were talking about?" The magenta hedgehog blinked at his question and nodded, making sure to keep her shoulder still. "Yes, everyone's Aura has a certain color, based on the person's soul. Yours is green. Most ordinary Mobian's Auras are either yellow or blue. The doctor's Aura is orange. You've got a unique Aura Sonic." Her muzzle seemed to redden a little and she said, "I've never met a Mobian with a green Aura." She looked at him and Sonic felt himself grin cockily. So, he was the oddball out eh? Nothing like a good surprise. "Well…that's surprising to hear. Glad to know that I'm not 'ordinary' eh?" and he rubbed his temple. "All this info and I don't even know who you are. What's your name then? You already know mine," Sonic questioned, smirking at his last sentence. The girl shifted on her bed, wincing a bit as she jarred her shoulder. She answered, "My name is Lavendar, Lavendar Silverwind." Sonic's ear twitched and he couldn't help but ask, "As in the flower?" Lavendar shook her head, her bangs swaying on her forehead.

"No, it's spelled slightly differently. Between the 'd' and 'r', instead of an 'e', it's an 'a'." She paused, and then went on, "A lot of people are named Lavender. I guess my parents wanted me to be different than all the rest." Sonic blinked at this. Hm. Lavendar. "That's a nice name, and creative too," he said and Lavendar glanced at him, smiling a bit shyly.

"Thank you," she murmured. She hoisted herself into a sitting position and glanced at her surroundings. The doctor room was large, and she surveyed it with interest. Her own village's hospital had been small…suddenly, her expression became sullen and she asked Sonic in a quiet voice, "Sonic, were you the only one who rescued me?" The blue hedgehog cocked his head to the side, his green eyes neutral. "No, I had two friends with me, Tails and Knuckles. Although it would've been fine if it were just me and Tails," he muttered under his breath, remembering the red echidna's blow to his head. It still hurt.

Lavendar still seemed sullen, and with another question she asked, "Did, did you find anyone else, other than me?" Sudden realization dawned on Sonic's face and inside, he felt dread rise through him. Oh no, how would she react if he told her he had seen no one else? What if she had lived in that forest, and her home, family, everything she had cared about-was gone? He hadn't seen any remains of anything except for her, and she had been in one piece. He couldn't lie, but he regretted saying the words anyway as he bowed his head and said softly, "I'm sorry Lavendar. I only found you lying at the base of a cliff. My friends didn't find anyone else."

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"Renix iss dead," a hiss emitted from a cloaked figure. He was standing with his head bowed to the ground, a dark boulder looming over him. His tongue flicked in and out of his mouth, his tail lashing grimly. "The girl hasss alsso been taken, presssumably by the sssame Mobiansss that have killed Renix. Hisss cloak wasss found near Half Peak in the girl'sss foressst where her village wass."

The figure lifted his head to look up at the stone where another figure stood on its edge. Unlike him, he was uncloaked and about twice the size of himself. He was partially the same species as him, and his white scales gleamed in the shadows. His golden eyes pierced through the figure standing on the ground, and with a shake of his head, the figure spoke without dragging out the 's's, "What a shame, Senascor. Truly a shame. Renix was…a difficult Mobian, but still a noble one." He arched his neck when the sun emerged from the clouds up above and stepped further into the shadows, his eyes gleaming. "And what of Arch? Has he returned?" Senascor nodded his head, scraping his claws against the ground.

"Yess, my lord, Eclipsse hass called him back. But he iss furiouss with how thingsss have turned out." The figure on top let out a harsh laugh, his tongue making a soft hiss noise as he did so.

"I would have thought so. Renix was his brother." The figure slowly let his giant, scaly head emerge from the shadows, revealing his face. Over his left eye, an ugly, long scar ran right over the eyelid to the lower one, due to a grim fight he had a long, long time ago. With a hiss, he ordered, "Anyway, enough of this nonsense. I am still disappointed with your squad's actions. Nothing gained, and we've lost one of our men. I think it is time I set you to a proper task." He made a small gesture behind him, and from behind the boulder, another figure stepped out of the shadows. This figure also wore a cloak, but it was brown instead of black. He stood on two legs, and wasn't of the same species as the other two. He was a lot smaller, around three to four feet tall. When he came to stand in front of Senascor, his icy, amber eyes flashed and a smirk tugged at his lips. The figure on the rock said, "Senascor, you know this fellow. He's the one who brought us the first Gem." Senascor looked at the creature and nodded his head. The figure on top continued, "I want you two to find out where the girl has been taken. I know she is not dead." He turned his head. "Once you have found her, report back to me. We will plan what to do next. At least the girl will not be going back to her home. Such a pity." The figure smiled coldly, his fangs protruding out of his mouth. "You two have 6 days. Be back by dawn on the sixth, and I hope we don't have any more failures, or else…" he dragged a claw against the cold stone, "I will have to punish you two." Senascor and the other small figure nodded, but before they went the smaller figure stepped forward and faced the figure on top. With a husky yet firm voice, he asked, "May I bring Eclipse along? She would make a great companion…" The figure on top considered this for a moment, and then with a nod he approved, "Very well. Bring her along. But do not get side-tracked. I know that the girl…is of interest to you." He let a forked tongue flicker out of his mouth. "You've not given me your name yet, even though you've been with us for some time, and of good use to us as well. What are you called?" The figure just smirked, his amber eyes glowing mischievously as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh…just call me—Venars," he decided and he let out a low chuckle. The figure's eyes glinted a bit with coldness, but then he lowered his head, clicking his claws against the stone.

"Very well, Venars. This mission will certainly test your…loyalty," he said softly but with obvious challenge and with that, he slinked off of the rock and into the shadows, his white tail trailing behind him.

Senascor turned to look at Venars, adjusting his longbow on his shoulder. "Get Eclipse, we're heading out."

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**I personally don't like the name Venars. Sounds like a mix of Venus and Mars. :P Thanks for reading, and please review! **


	5. Chapter 4: Turmoil

**__****Again, the little backstory of Sonic's was made by me. Enjoy~**

**I do not own any Sega or Archie characters. All fancharacters belong to me. **

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**_Chapter 4: _**

_Turmoil_

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The room was dark. Night had fallen, and the hospital lights were dimmed, others turned off. In one room, Lavendar lay silently on her bed, staring up at the dark ceiling as she turned today's events over and over in her head.

Her village. Her home. Her family, friends, loved ones—all gone.

When Sonic had told her the news earlier in the day, she had sobbed with grief, and Sonic had left her to grieve alone. But by using her senses, she knew he felt guilty, guilty that he hadn't saved anyone else. She could never blame him. He had done enough already, putting out the fire in the forest and saving her. She would forever be thankful.

But that didn't stop the painful ache in her chest as each of the Mobians she had known in her lifetime flashed through her mind. Mother, father, friends…

And then one face in particular flashed in front of her eyes and lingered there. A dark, midnight blue hedgehog with a white furry chest and white and blue hair. Raven. The, skilled, handsome boy she had known all of her life, who she had loved and cared about…she shook her head furiously, tears threatening to stain her already tear-stained muzzle. No, even though he's dead, she would still love him. Always.

Sniffing, she gazed down at the aqua gem on her neck, its light illuminating the darkness around her. Those creatures…they had been after her, and she knew why. They wanted her gem. Why they wanted it, she didn't know. But she knew her gem was special, in a way. It had always protected her; she had felt when she was a child. She remembered the time when she had stumbled across a snake in the woods, and it had reared to bite her. Her gem had suddenly flashed, and as if a barrier had hit it the snake snapped backwards, hissed and slinked away. Other times, like when in the water, she had held her breath for ten minutes with the gem on her neck, and it frightened her mother to no end. But when she had emerged she had felt perfectly normal.

Did her gem give her super powers? She couldn't be certain. Lavendar stroked the gem and whispered softly, "What do you think?"

The gem just glowed silently back.

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The moon lit up Sonic's path as he ran, his green eyes narrowed as the wind plastered his face. He was running through the streets, working his body as he tried to shake off the restless feeling he had had ever since leaving the hospital. It had followed him around like a ghost, and when he had just couldn't stand it, he had let his feet run on its own and take him wherever they willed.

He had been running for three hours now, non-stop, yet the feeling still clung onto him like cobwebs. The blue hedgehog shook his head, remembered the afternoon's events and Lavendar's utterly lost face, and gritted his teeth. It was all his fault. He should've run out of chilidogs earlier during the camping trip, so maybe, he could've stumbled across the burning forest earlier and saved the Mobians living there. He should've listened to Knuckles non-stop whining about going back home, so he could've done something. He should've, he should've.

He was supposed to be a hero, and yet he hadn't been fast enough to save a small town. The very thought stabbed him in the gut like a knife.

And what of Lavendar?

He jerked his feet and skidded to a stop in front of a lawn, letting out a sigh. A small yet perky house stood, welcoming him inside. Home sweet home. As he walked towards the door, his thoughts wandered back to the magenta hedgehog with her large, gray eyes and strange gem. Her troubles reminded him of his own troubles. An…incident had occurred a few weeks ago and he had tried everyway possible to forget it. Now, the memories flooded him, renewed with vengeful strength.

But what he should really be thinking of now was Lavendar. He shook his head. Lavendar's fate was unspoken of. Where would she live now? She had nowhere to go, and just by his conversation and observations with her this afternoon, he knew that it would take a long time for her to trust anyone else. She was already bewildered enough by today's and the past few day's events, and he knew that she needed to be close to someone she could be comfortable with.

He came up with an answer as he pushed open the door (it was unlocked) and stepped inside.

"Mom?" Sonic called out, closing the door behind him. He flicked on a light switch, lighting up the living room in front of him. The soft glow of the T.V lit the couches and stands with a blue light, and as Sonic took a few more steps in, a female hedgehog rounded the corner and came into the living room. She was blue and had two quills on each side of her head like Sonic with one quill arcing upwards. Yellow hair topped the top of her head, and she wore a plain, purple dress with purple shoes. Her eyes were also green but a darker color than his, and she smiled as she saw her son.

"Hey sweetie, you're finally home," she greeted him warmly and Sonic couldn't help but smile back at her. He nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am." He rubbed his head a little awkwardly. "I—came to a few conclusions." When his mother (named Aleena) blinked with confusion, Sonic just shrugged and stepped around her, heading towards the kitchen. Speaking of conclusions, he decided to have something to eat. He hadn't eaten anything since the camping trip, and he was famished. His explanation could wait…

Sonic walked into the kitchen, the tiled floor shining with the kitchen lights, and when he found himself face to face with the refrigerator, he flung it open and stuck his face inside, rummaging through the food. He heard the soft footsteps of his mother behind him, but he ignored it for the meantime as he pulled out some hotdog buns, sausages and a bowl of chili sauce and brought them to the counter. It was when he had placed the hotdogs and chili sauce in the microwave when his mother exclaimed softly behind him, "You didn't eat?" Sonic set the dial onto two minutes, leaned against the counter and slowly faced his mother. One of his ears twitched and he seemed very fond at looking at his shoes when he answered simply, "Yeah." He dragged the tip of one of his shoes across the tiles. Next to him, the microwave hummed warmly as the food inside circled silently.

Aleena saw her son's restlessness and sighed inwardly. It was only recently Sonic had been acting this way, after…well, she didn't want to bring it up again. The hedgehog was already agitated enough, and no matter how hard he tried to cover it up with his smiles and playful manner, she knew that he was still suffering. The camping trip had not only been an excuse for a vacation, Sonic had thought that the trip would've eased his restless feeling. It seemed that the trip hadn't helped much.

He was still staring at the floor, his face drawn and eyebrows furrowed, and not for the first time, Aleena thought that he looked so much like his father. This time, she sighed outwardly and came to stand next to Sonic. That thought wouldn't comfort him in the least, for his father was dead. "Sonic, what's wrong?" she asked finally, placing a tender hand on his own hands against the counter. The hedgehog didn't answer for a moment, but all in good time, he raised his head and looked at his mother, his green eyes troubled.

"It's, I've, well, you see…when we came back from the camping trip—" he started with different words, unsure of what to say. The microwave dinged and turned black beside him, and when he didn't move to open it, his mother stepped around him and opened the microwave, took out the food and went to place it on the kitchen table where the buns were. Picking up a sausage, she took it and wedged it neatly in a bun, and in a conversational tone, she asked, "What did you do on your camping trip? Was it fun? Did you have a good time?" She took a spoon that had been lying on the table and scooped some sauce onto the now made hotdog, spreading it across the sausage. An aroma filled the kitchen and Sonic couldn't help but lick his lips. He walked to the table and stood beside Aleena, a small smile forming on his mouth. With his eyes on the now made chilidogs, he exclaimed, "Well, we were going to stay longer, but Knuckles kept complaining on going home." His mother smiled at that, placing another made chilidog onto the plate. She knew the red echidna and his temper. Besides, she had been there when he had disturbed that baby dragon. It was because of him their house had nearly been burned.

Sonic continued, his teasing manner returning, "And he started sulking when I beat him at a couple of games of rock, paper, scissors. I mean, it isn't my fault that his hands are shaped that way." He chuckled at the thought, remembering Knuckles' red if not already red enough face. Aleena smiled and finally placed the third chilidog on the plate before handing it to Sonic, and he took it thankfully, the aroma wafting into his nose. Without another word, he bit into the first one and savored the warm and delicious taste, almost tempted to start purring with satisfaction. But of course, he wasn't a cat, and as much as he could purr, he decided against it and instead winked at his mom and said with a mouthful of chilidog, "Gee mom, your handiwork always tastes better than mine. How do you do it?" Aleena laughed and wiped her hands on a napkin, staining it red with chili sauce.

"Motherly instincts," she answered and Sonic chuckled again, stuffing another chilidog in his mouth.

After finally finishing his third one, he was in a better mood than before and he sat down on a chair, feeling full. His mom was still in the kitchen and she was washing the dish that the chilidogs had been served on, her back to him. Yes, he was feeling better but he was still not entirely content, and he mulled over today's events once more in his head. Forest on fire. Random reptiles with cloaks and arrows. At the word 'arrows', he felt the hard shaft press against his spikes uncomfortably and he reached back to push it into a better position. When he had left the hospital, he had tucked the arrow carefully behind his spikes. He had decided to keep it and ask Lavendar about it when the time was right, but so far, his patience was thinning. Sonic was not one to sit still and wait patiently, and he had been very tempted to show her the arrow in the hospital.

Unless if he wanted her trust. He needed her trust first if he was going to ask her anything. And if he needed her trust…

"Hey mom, there's something I need to tell you," Sonic finally said, fixing his mother with his emerald green eyes. Just by hearing the serious tone in his voice, his mom turned the sink water off and wiped her hands, turning towards her son. She blinked and asked, "What is it Sonic?"

And so, he started where he had left off about the camping trip, explaining the day's events. He explained how he, Tails and Knuckles had flown over the raging fire, how they had landed to investigate, how he had found Lavendar lying injured at the bottom of the cliff, how the murderous reptile who had set the forest on fire in the first place had tried to take her, and finally, how Lavendar's mysterious gem had killed him and his body had vaporized in thin air. Aleena sat in a chair next him during his story, and she didn't interrupt him, except with a few occasional "hms" and nods. She did look surprised when he explained the girl's gem though, and Sonic added his own thoughts, "I think that gem of hers has powers, kind of like a Chaos Emerald, except the powers are different. She can read minds as well, and I think her gem must have something to do with that. I suspect it was because of her gem that she didn't smash into pieces when she fell off the cliff. What other explanation is there? It must've protected her somehow." He shifted in his chair, his left hand absent-mindedly stroking the arrow behind him. "There were more reptiles than the one Lavendar's gem killed. They won't be happy if they found out what happened to their comrade."

"What is Lavendar like? Is she…?" his mother asked, letting her unfinished sentence trail in the air. Sonic understood her meaning and he shook his head, his quills brushing over his shoulder as he did so.

"She's lost, mom. At first, she kept looking at me as if I were going to pull a knife out in front of her, and I could've for all she knew. She has no idea where she is, her family and home is gone, and she's surrounded by people she doesn't even know. I didn't dare ask her any questions yet. She didn't seem to be steady enough." He closed his eyes. "I'm concerned for her."

Outside, the lights inside other buildings were shutting off, and the clock that hung on the wall read 10:00 p.m. Sonic's story had taken up a good 45 minutes. With an exhale, Aleena ran a hand across her eyes, thinking over what her son had just said. He was concerned for the poor girl, which was typical of him. The blue hedgehog was always trying to help others, even if the task deemed impossible. This task, however…it seemed that he had a solution.

It seemed that her theory was correct, for Sonic's eyes opened again and he gazed at his mom with a renewed expression and he said, "That's why, I've come up with a solution. Lavendar needs to develop her trust if I'm to figure out what has exactly happened today. And the only person she can develop her trust is with…me, because I was the only person that talked to her, besides Dr. Quack. I'm also the one who saved her. So mom, this is the question I was going to ask all this time." He leaned forward, giving his mom a look and she nodded, giving him her permission to proceed. He gave a small smile and continued. "Lavendar needs a home. For now, she'll need a place to live before her fate is decided. I've been thinking…if we could take Lavendar in, just for now? This way, she might be able to trust me, and I'll be able to ask her some questions." He stopped, watching his mom's face, waiting for her response. It was all he could think of. Just from his observations, Lavendar wouldn't allow anyone to put her in a homeless shelter. She would be even more lost than she was now. At least if he took her in, just for the time being, he could help her get on with life here in New Metropolis and get to know her. He remembered her large, grey eyes as they stared up at him with wonder.

_"You're…you're the glow. The green light." _She had said. Did this mean that in some way, she trusted him?

Meanwhile, it dawned on Aleena that this had been the thing that Sonic had had in mind since he had come home. She hesitated for a moment, feeling a little unsure of his request. Sonic was 15 years old, still a young teenager, and he was in any way quite capable of handling himself, but she couldn't be sure when a girl was in the house. Her eyebrows furrowed a little and she said doubtfully, "Sonic, you'll need to think this out more carefully. I'll be happy to take her in, but Lavendar is a young girl in her teens, and you are a young male in your teens. She might feel a little insecure being here. Don't get me wrong," she added quickly when Sonic's face turned surprised, "I know you aren't that type of Mobian to do anything that'll harm her, but Lavendar doesn't know that. I think it'll be best you ask her first, just in case."

Unfortunately, Sonic did take his mom's statement the wrong way, and he crossed his arms, a scowl forming on his face. "Mom, seriously. Look at me." He gestured down at himself. "Do I look in any way – _that?_

Heck, Lavendar even knows my personality already! So she basically knows me." He fidgeted in his chair. Deep inside, he knew his mother was right, that Lavendar might feel unsafe, but it still hurt him when she mentioned her doubts in him. Could his own mother even trust him now?

Aleena had expected this reaction from him, and so she wasn't taken aback from his comment. Instead, she replied in a soft voice, "No Sonic. I don't doubt you. You are my son, and I know that you won't do anything to harm anyone. But even if Lavendar can read minds, she doesn't _really _know you. You out of all Mobians should understand that." She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he averted his gaze, feeling guilty. She was right. Lavendar didn't know him, and he out of Mobians in this world should know that. It was he in the first place that had said that very statement to Tails a long, long time ago, when he had warned him that you couldn't just look at a Mobian's outside appearance to determine their true character. "You think you might know them, but you'll never know until you actually bond with them, day after day," he had said.

And now, he hadn't taken his own quote into consideration. He gave a sigh. Was it because of his break-up incident earlier before that was affecting his moods? He needed to forget it. With a weary smile, he brushed his mom's hand off his shoulder and stood up, looking out of the kitchen window and at the dark night outside. "Yeah, you're right mom. I'll ask her tomorrow." Aleena nodded, knowing that her son had understood. Standing up as well, she glanced at the clock hanging on the wall again and exclaimed, "You'll need to get some sleep Sonic. Tomorrow will be a busy day." The blue hedgehog nodded and turned to face his mom.

"Yeah, I'll go do that right now. Good night," he said, and before she could reply, he was gone, up the stairs and in his room. His mom gazed for a few moments at the spot where he had stood a second ago, and then smiled to herself, shaking her head. _That Sonic,_ she thought, and she closed the lights.

The house was dark after that.

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"Miss, how are feeling today?" Dr. Quack said as he checked her pulse. It was another breezy day in New Metropolis, and outside, the sun shone brightly in the sky, sending sunrays through the hospital room's window. Lavendar was sitting upright in the bed, dark circles under her eyes due to the lack of sleep she had had last night. How could she, with all the events that have happened? Dr. Quack had come in around 8:00 a.m. in the morning to check on her, and now, she was letting the duck examine her. She had tucked her gem carefully away into her pocket so he wouldn't touch it, and as he withdrew his stethoscope away from her chest, Lavendar managed to quirk her mouth upwards a bit and reply, "My shoulder doesn't hurt doctor, I think I'm recovering." _But my soul is wounded,_ she thought in her head, and she resisted the urge to start sobbing again. She couldn't start crying again. She needed to be strong, no matter how much it hurt her.

Dr. Quack must've noticed her expression, and he said to her gently, "I'm really sorry about what happened, Lavendar. It truly is…mm." He cleared his throat and shook his head, and the magenta hedgehog just couldn't help but smile at the duck for his sympathy. He wasn't such a bad Mobian, and she had grown to like the doctor. He had nursed her back to health, after all. As he waddled off near the room's window to mark down things on his clipboard, Lavendar let out a sigh and closed her eyes, swallowing hard and trying not to think of sorrowful thoughts. Instead, she tried hard to focus on the situation she was stuck in now. Once she had fully recovered, where would she go? Her home - based on what Sonic had told her - was gone. She couldn't go back to her village; there would be nothing to go back to. _It's all my fault_, she thought in her head. If it weren't for her, those murders wouldn't have killed anyone, and her forest would still be standing. Her family would still be alive. Raven would still be alive…

Her hand instinctively went to the aqua gem hidden in the blankets, squeezing it gently. No, even if it was her fault, she couldn't have let the reptiles take her. Because they were after her gem, and if one of them somehow got a hold of it…she gripped the gem harder. Who knew what they would have done with it? She had felt their aura, black, cold, and absolutely rotten to the core. They were evil beings, cloaked with black from their own black hearts. Whatever their intentions may be, they were certainly for bad and not for good.

Speaking of auras, Lavendar's thoughts wandered back to yesterday, when she had felt Sonic's aura. Green and warm, so much different then those reptiles' auras. She remembered waking up to see his emerald green eyes, thinking that it had been the light that had protected her during her unconsciousness, and instead, found that it had been two eyes that belonged to a blue hedgehog. And that that hedgehog had a green aura. He had saved her life, and for the first time since she had woken up in the hospital, she realized that it was because of him that she wasn't dead, and that very thought washed over her like a wave. She shifted on the bed. Just that very thought gave her a reason to trust him, to trust Sonic the hedgehog. _Sonic…what a unique name, _she thought.

Speak of the devil, and the devil shall come. And this particular devil came in a very interesting way.

"What in blazes?!" Dr. Quack suddenly exclaimed from where he was standing, nearly dropping his clipboard in surprise. Lavendar jerked at the suddenness of his exclamation, causing her to knock over the tray that had been beside her bed. It clattered noisily to the floor, and in his hurriedness, Dr. Quack accidently took a step back on it, slipped and grabbed at a cart to save him from falling, only to have the cart flip over and empty all of its contents all over the floor. (And knock Dr. Quack to the floor with it.) A wire caught on the cart's wheel as it flipped, and it detached itself from the machine it had been connected to, causing the machine to splutter and die. Unfortunately, that machine had been the electricity outlet, and so the whole room flickered and went dark as the power went out.

When the hullabaloo died down, and when everything was still, standing right in the middle of the mess was…

"Man, did I come at the wrong time?" Sonic asked with surprise, rubbing his head as he took in his surroundings, from the disgruntled duck on the floor to the bewildered magenta hedgehog sitting bolt upright in her bed. Broken glass lay everywhere, and wires hung crazily down from machines. Something went _sproing _from one of the machines, but no one took any notice of it. Lavendar just stared at the hedgehog that had seemingly materialized out of mid-air, too shocked to speak. From the floor, Dr. Quack grunted and heaved himself off of the floor, rubbing his feathery tail (which he had landed on quite heavily). His eye patch hung crookedly on his eye, but that didn't stop his other eye to glare at the surprised hedgehog standing in the midst of the rubbish, and he growled, "Sonic, for the love of Chaos, please, _please, _restrain yourself from using the windows. Look at what you have caused! Have you no respect for the hospital—" he waved a hand at the messy room, "—or for the patient in this room?" He gestured towards Lavendar. "Lavendar here is injured and requires time to recover, and yet you barge in and make a fuss…" Dr. Quack shook his head and righted his eye patch while straightening the cart and picking up the instruments on the floor, all the while mumbling under his breath. Sonic just stood there, feigning a look of mock confusion, and he asked incredulously, "Who _me? _Are you insisting that I caused all this to happen, just because I used the window as my entrance? You must be joking doctor!" He grinned but nevertheless got on his hands and knees and helped the duck pick up misplaced things.

"Wait…you used the window?" Lavendar asked incredulously at Sonic. The blue hedgehog paused and looked at her for a moment, and then winked. "Yep. That's exactly what I did." The magenta hedgehog just stared at him, not believing her ears. She looked around him to see that he was telling the truth though. The window was wide open, and that must've been the reason Dr. Quack had suddenly shouted in surprise. She would've been shocked stiff as well if a head suddenly appeared at the window that was on the 15the floor. She cocked her head to one side. "How in the world could you have climbed up to the 15th floor?" she asked once more. Sonic just shrugged and smirked cockily, his eyes gleaming with mischief, and the magenta hedgehog realized there was more to this Sonic character than it met the eye. She tried to feel his emotions, but once again, it felt as if a thin layer of mist was covering up his thoughts, preventing her from picking anything up. How strange.

"Hrm. A habit you definitely have to change Sonic. The main entrance is there for a reason," Dr. Quack grumbled. Lavendar leaned over the side of her bed, watching as the two resumed picking things up. Feeling like she should do something, she asked, "Need help?"

Dr. Quack immediately looked up at Lavendar and shook his head. "No Lavendar, you need to rest. Your shoulder is still not fully recovered. I don't want you reopening your wound." Lavendar bit her lip, a little disconcerted. She knew the duck was right, but she didn't want to feel useless…As if he read her mind, Sonic also lifted his head and grinned at her, his face wearing a playful expression.

"Don't you worry Lavendar. Because I am the one to blame for this mess," he shot Dr. Quack a look before continuing, "I think I'm responsible for cleaning it up. Besides—" He suddenly looked a little abashed, and he rubbed his nose as he stood up to face her. He started, "Well, the reason I came here today was to talk to you. I've been considering Lavendar. You have no home for the time being, and well, because I want to get to know you better…maybe, you would like to stay with me and my family? Just until we get you a home." He glanced at Dr. Quack. "And if it's ok with Dr. Quack." The duck stood up and brushed himself off, still a little bit grumpy from the mess Sonic had made (and the fact that the lights were still off in the room), but he peered at Lavendar, particularly her shoulder and murmured, "Well, she is healing pretty fast, and her wound only needs a little bit more time to recover…" He righted his patch. "You can take her as long as you don't do anything reckless, which I don't think you'll obtain that request, herm," he grunted and Sonic rolled his eyes, "but it is up to Lavendar if she takes your offer. Which if I were you, I wouldn't agree," he added the last bit softly so only the magenta hedgehog could hear, and Lavendar blinked. Sonic was still watching her, his green eyes curious as he waited for her response.

Should she? Could she? Would she? Lavendar thought in her head. Just earlier she had given herself a reason to not be afraid of Sonic, but now that he wanted to take her in…the thought kind of imitated her. He _had_ mentioned a family though, so it wouldn't just be him and her in a house (she repressed a blush). Besides, she did owe him for saving her life, even if he was a stranger. It seemed that he wanted her to agree. The gem around her neck glowed and she cupped it with her hands. She didn't have another choice, unless if she wanted to be put in a homeless shelter. Lavendar looked up and gazed at the blue hedgehog and confirmed, "Yes, I'll take your offer Sonic. Thanks."

Immediately, Sonic grinned and for a moment, the thin fog shrouding his thoughts lifted, and Lavendar was flooded with his emotions, warm and green like his aura. At first, she was shocked by the suddenness of his mind being revealed, but then she recollected herself and let her mind take in his. _He's really glad_, she thought in her head, and for a moment, she wondered why. Was there some other reason he had wanted to take her in?

Meanwhile, Sonic felt triumphant that he had won her over, and he winked at Lavendar and said, "Alright, then, do you want to go now, or…"

"Hang on just a minute here!" Dr. Quack suddenly waddled up and gave Sonic a disapproving stare. He waved a finger in front of the hedgehog's face and narrowed his eye. "You're not taking Lavendar anywhere until you've cleaned up this mess. I'm not going to stay here wasting my time cleaning after you, I've got other things to see to." He picked up the clipboard that he had dropped earlier and tapped it with his pencil. "And you've got to promise that you'll use the front entrance _properly _from now on, or else, I'll hold you accountable." Sonic's eyes widened and he feigned yet another innocent tone and look, "Dr. Quack! You can't do that to me! I didn't _really_ cause the mess, I just popped my head through that window and it started a chain reaction. Besides, climbing is way cooler than using the front entrance! I say I'm not responsible for anything…"  
But nevertheless, a few moments later, Sonic was on his hands and knees picking things up and putting them back where they belonged, sighing and shaking his head while Dr. Quack stood with his arms crossed over him, glancing at his watch. Lavendar couldn't help but feel sorry for the hedgehog, especially when he accidently put his hand on a certain needle and pricked his palm.

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**Special thanks to RonnyBravo for reviewing! And thanks to everyone who does review~**


	6. Chapter 5: Exchange

**__****So school is starting, and that means chapters for stories will have to take time to post. Sorry guys, but I'm really busy! **

**But after some time, I finally had some time to write. Here's chapter five!**

**I do not own any SEGA characters. All fan characters belong to me. **

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**_Chapter 5: _**

_Exchange_

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Senascor hated rabbits.

It was mid-morning, and the duo had finally broken out of woodland area and onto open terrain. They had been traveling most of the night and were in need of a rest. They were in the middle of a vast valley, a valley with flowers, lush green grass, clean sparkling water and a bright sun shining overhead.

He hated this place. It was too bright, and even when wearing his dark cloak, he could still feel the warmth of the sun penetrate his body, causing his body temperature to rise to an uncomfortable degree. Not only that, this valley had attracted the wrong attention too. When the two Mobians had stopped near an oak tree to rest for a few minutes, Senascor had spotted someone moving among the field of flowers. Venars had gone off to look for food, and he was alone for the time being. So when he had gotten on all fours and slinked slowly over to the patch of flowers, he had whiffed a nostril-full of rabbit.

Rabbits. They were furry. They had annoyingly long ears. And worse of all, they thought they were _soo_ cute. The rabbit Senascor was watching was a light brown colored rabbit with dark brown eye circles. She was young, about five years old, and as she danced and frolicked in the flowers, the reptile caught sight of another rather small Mobian flying after her, a blue and yellow creature with a bobbing circle on its head and small, pink wings.

A Chao.

"Cheese, what do you think? Aren't these flowers beautiful?" The little rabbit had giggled in her high-pitched voice. The chao exclaimed "Chao!" in agreement, and Senascor recoiled in disgust at her voice, her pitch sending chills down his spine. Revolting! Absolutely revolting. Why did rabbits have to be so squeaky? If he hadn't been so disgusted by them, he would've snapped her up in one gulp by now. Besides, rabbits were Mobians he could eat.

He was tempted to just turn away and find Venars, but that was when he accidently stepped on a twig, and it snapped under his clawed foot. He instantly froze and became still, but it was too late. The rabbit heard and she turned around and widened her eyes with shock.

"What, what is that?!" she pointed at him with fright and the chao hovered behind her, squeaking behind her ears. Senascor cursed under his breath. Great. He had been seen. Now he couldn't let the rabbit go alive. The lord wouldn't want their identities to be revealed.

Rearing on his hind legs, Senascor wheeled around to face the now terrified rabbit, his cold, yellow eyes boring into her as he almost lazily retrieved an arrow from his casket and raised his bow. She was exposed, half hidden in the flowerbed but an easy target, and he pointed his bow straight for her heart. With a soft voice, he said, "Came to pick the flowerss, little girl?" The rabbit just stood there, unmoving, and the chao that she had called Cheese hid behind her shoulder, his wings trembling. Senascor walked a little closer, and the rabbit moved back, her brown eyes wide.

"Mr…what do you want with me and Cheese? Is this your garden? We're sorry for coming then. We…we didn't mean to bother you…" she stammered, but the reptile just pulled back his arrow and prepared to release.

A knife hurtled right past just inches away from his face and thudded in front of the rabbit's foot. A warning. It was enough. The rabbit let out a shriek and raced as fast as she could, away from the flowerbed, away from the place she had loved and came to everyday. Cheese flapped crazily behind her, and the two became mere outlines in the distance.

Meanwhile, Senascor screeched and lashed his claw out at the figure that had emerged behind him, his eyes blazing with cold fury. "What are your intentionsss Venarsss? Are you deliberately trying to provoke me? You know that our identitiesss musst be kept a ssecret, you fool!" The smaller cloaked figure was standing behind him, though his cowl was thrown back and his handsome face was revealed. In one hand he was holding a large fish, and his other hand was still in such a poised position that one could only come up with one plausible answer. Venars had thrown the knife.

The Mobian said nothing, and instead, he walked up to the knife he had thrown and bent down to pick it up. He inspected the tip and brushed dirt off of it, ignoring the reptile's menacing glare. When he sheathed the knife back in its sheath, Venars said quietly, "My my Senascor, it's you that has revealed yourself to the girl. You can hardly blame me for your clumsiness." He turned around to face the reptile, his eyes cool. " And is it really necessary, Senascor, to kill someone that is of no threat to us?" The reptile gnashed his teeth together and hissed deep in his throat, his tail dragging across the floor.

"SStupid woodland creature. You think you are ssuch a ssaint? Don't you remember how many Mobiansss you have killed just recently? Or isss your memory a complete void of ssuch thingss?" Senascor let his claws sink into the ground, his lips curling with mockery. "Hass the lord made a misstake, trusssting you? You ssseem to have your own intentionsss," he lowered his eyelids, "Venarss."

The smaller cloaked Mobian just laughed, yet there was no joy to his laughter, and he grinned at the reptile. "Ah Senascor. I can't blame you lizards," Senascor hissed, but Venars went on, "for being such simple-minded creatures. Just think. That rabbit is probably going to blab about seeing you to her parents. Her parents will spread the word to others, so their children could be safe. What if that news happened to spread to the Mobians that had taken Lavendar? They would certainly be surprised by the news…especially when they find out that the description matches what they've seen in the woods." He tossed the fish at the reptile, and Senascor snagged it in mid-air with his claw, still glaring at Venars.

"What are you sssaying? You want to give our possition away to them?" He sliced the fish open in one flick, blood seeping into the dirt. But Venars just smirked and turned around, his cloak flapping in the breeze. "You can thank me for catching that fish," was all he said.

A black figure suddenly appeared from the shadows of the oak tree and landed on Venars shoulder, ruffling its feathers. The Mobian acknowledged it and stroked its head, saying softly, "Eclipse my girl, back from hunting?"

The crow lifted her head, her beady eyes glinting as she cawed in return.

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"Now Miss, don't do anything reckless that'll reopen your wounds. Your shoulder is healing quite nicely, but it is not fully recovered yet," Dr. Quack shouted from the main entrance. It was nearly noon, and the hospital's plaster white walls shone in the light. Lavendar was standing some feet away, favoring her shoulder that had been wounded. Dr. Quack had made sure to bind it well before she left. Her face was a bit troubled, while Sonic stood next to her scowling at the Doctor. He had taken nearly all morning fixing up the room _he_ had ruined (although he had complained that it wasn't his fault at all), and his hand had a band-aid on it where he pricked himself with the needle.

"That certain needle has come to haunt me," he had muttered, much to Lavendar's confusion and curiosity on what exactly he meant by that. Now, they were finally leaving the hospital, and for Lavendar, it was another new step, another progression from one stage to another. To tell the truth, she was pretty nervous, but she kept scolding herself that she shouldn't be. _It won't be bad, I think, _she thought, clutching her gem. As Sonic turned around and beckoned for her to follow, she tried to keep her head high at the world and walked after him.

In just a few seconds, she wished she could hide.

"So Lavendar, you've lived in a forest your whole life, haven't you?" Sonic asked in a bit of an amused tone, seeing her wide-eyed expression. Indeed, Lavendar had lived in a small village in the middle of a vast forest, and so she was quite used to a quiet and secluded life. New Mobotropolis was a different matter entirely. They had just arrived at what seemed like the center of the city, and Mobians, more Mobians in her entire village just in one place, were bustling about. A large fountain in a shape of what seemed like a giant, silver acorn was in the middle, splashing water into the air. Buildings lined the sidewalks, and trimmed bushes bordered walls. Noise and chatter filled her ears, and auras, so many auras, washed over her like a wave. Yellow, blue, orange…there was even a pink aura. Strange…no other Mobian had a green aura except for Sonic standing right next to her. She almost staggered under the weight of thoughts filling her head. Children were happy to be outside with their friends. Mothers bustling to the grocery store, grumbling about having to cook. Young couples wondering where the best restaurants were. All kinds of thoughts all in this clearing.

She was officially terrified.

"Sonic," her whispered, shying behind him, her gem pulsing erratically along with her heartbeat. She wanted to get away. Anywhere, as long as it wasn't crowded, busy, or overflowing with Mobians, she didn't care. She flinched when a little rowdy kid ran past her, his voice disappearing as he ran off, and she felt the gem getting hot around her neck. Oh no, what was it doing? Was it going to react with her nervousness and do something unexpected? "Take me the fastest way out of here," she murmured anxiously to Sonic, fiddling with her necklace.

The blue hedgehog saw her frantic state and frowned. Was Lavendar claustrophobic? Or was she simply overwhelmed? Anyhow, he pondered about her request in his head, tilting it to the side as he studied her. "Any way?" he asked carefully. Lavendar nodded furiously, her gray eyes blazing. "Yes yes, any way, the fastest way, I don't care, just…just get me away from this place. Please." For a moment, Sonic stood there, and the magenta hedgehog grew ever so troubled and twitchy, her gem almost burning into her neck. Then, with a slow and cocky smile, he exclaimed, "Oh, you _really _shouldn't have said that."

Before she could wonder what he meant, he suddenly rushed towards her, threw her into his arms and broke into a run. Lavendar had not even taken in a breath before he was heading straight towards a tree, and she almost let out a shriek as the trunk drew dangerously close. But instead of closing her eyes and praying for dear life, she felt a sudden tensing in Sonic's body and he slowed down for a fraction of a second, bent his knees, and then _launched, launched _himself upwards andleaped straight up into the air. The world spun dizzily below her as he righted himself and landed nimbly on the top of the tree as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Trembling, Lavendar lifted her head to see Sonic smirking down at her, his green eyes shining. "What? You did say _any way_. This will be the fastest way out, trust me." When she didn't answer, he peered down at her with a quizzical look and asked, "You_ do_ trust me, do you?" Lavendar swallowed shakily, the ground beneath her seeming very hostile and menacing. She couldn't help but picture what would happen if Sonic lost his balance and they both tumbled to the ground, bones snapping, blood everywhere…she shuddered.

But she felt Sonic's green eyes gazing at her intensely, and she felt his confidence like a blast of wind. He was used to this (although she couldn't see how) and so she decided to suck it in and deal with it. With a shaky nod, she gulped and said in a squeak, "I…I trust you." Sonic smiled sweetly and with almost childish innocence, and then he shifted her in his arms and began to lean forward. "Alright then, hold on tight." And with that, he pushed himself off of the tree.

The next things that happened rushed past in a blur. Literally. As Lavendar clung to Sonic with wide eyes, she felt her stomach drop as he bounded from the tree and traveled through the air, his legs trailing behind him. Then, he suddenly swung both of them in front of him and landed on a tiled roof, his body absorbing the vibrations of his impact. Lavendar felt the muscle in his neck tighten, and then with a jolt forwards, Sonic started to run.

At first, Lavendar didn't understand what she was seeing. Right when Sonic's foot touched the top of a roof tile, it was long gone behind them, disappearing in a red dot. The surrounding trees and pathways below them smudged and blurred together to form one, muddled image of colors. Mobian's walking past turned their heads in surprise as they watched a blue streak dart past on the roof, wind generating from the speed. Lavendar's eyes began to water, but when she tilted her head upward, she saw that Sonic was looking fine, if not even better than he had been before. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the wind, and when she looked down, she saw that his legs were just a blur. When the rooftop ended, he jumped to a lower one, but Lavendar barely even noticed the break in his stride. It was as if the gap hadn't been there in the first place and he resumed moving forwards, the wind blasting into their faces. Finally, she understood. Sonic was running. Running really fast.

She didn't know when it stopped, but suddenly, Sonic changed course. Instead of running straight, he veered to the right and jumped off the roof. The ground reared up at them as he landed in the grass, absorbing the impact. Then, everything was still. The trees had a definite outline once more, the colors became independent, and as Sonic slowly put Lavendar down, her knees seemed unable to support herself and she yelped and fell backwards. Sonic caught her before she fell and he laughed, his green eyes sparkling.

"Well, that was a thrill of a run, wasn't it? Fast enough for you?" he asked, righting her. Lavendar felt the world spin for a second, her heart pounding from the exhilaration. Sonic…his name is Sonic…did that mean…And then suddenly, she pushed herself away from the blue hedgehog and came to face him a few feet away, her gray eyes wide.

"How…how can you run so fast?" she asked incredulously, her gem glowing with her exclamation. Sonic didn't seem surprised by her reaction. Instead, he seemed amused, and he flicked an ear nonchalantly as he answered, "You know, you're not the only one who has powers." He winked and turned around, heading down a path. They were in the middle of a main street and already, Mobians were walking towards her. Lavendar stood there for a second, bewildered, and then shook her head and hurried after him, reaching his side. Undeterred, she fell into pace with him and asked again, "Were you born with that ability? How fast can you go?" For a second, the blue hedgehog didn't say anything, and only the sound of the wind answered her questions. Suddenly, Sonic stopped abruptly, and Lavendar walked a few steps before realizing that he was behind her. Curious, she turned around to see him scowling at her, his arms crossed.

"Questions. Isn't that what Mobians are all thinking these days? You've got some, I've got some…" he took a step forward and was suddenly right in front of her, his face just inches away from her own. Lavendar took in a breath and stepped backwards, realizing that Sonic had just used his ability. One split second, he had been standing a few feet away from her, and before she could even blink, he was right there. It was incredible. He had to be faster than sound to be able to do that… Shaking her head, she managed to smile shakily and exclaimed, "We can exchange right?" In normal cases, she would've kept her secrets guarded and wouldn't have revealed any of them. But…it wouldn't be fair if she got to know Sonic and she didn't give him something in return. She owed him that much, for saving her life.

Sonic cocked his head and seemed to ponder for a moment, and not for the first time, Lavendar cast herself into his head to try and see what he was thinking. She let her eyes go distant and concentrated on the Aura world, using her unique fifth sense. Everything faded away and became a soft pulse, like a heartbeat, and she seemed to hover over the land like a bird. She pinpointed Sonic's green aura and plunged towards it to find herself surrounded by it, and she moved through it like water, reaching his mind. But at the same time, a thin, yet impenetrable mist blocked her progression and shrouded his thoughts that whispered just behind it. She tried to break through it by casting forces into his mind, but she was pushed out almost equally strongly and she blinked, everything zooming away from her like a tornado and returning to her body.

Not a second had passed, and the blue hedgehog was still standing there, watching her. He slowly nodded and smiled crookedly and he said, "Hm, well, we just made a deal then." He held out his right hand, holding it in front of Lavendar, and she realized that he wanted her to shake it. She reached out, fit her hand into his and they shook. When they parted, Lavendar murmured softly, fingering her gem, "Thanks, for taking me out of that place…" She was no longer nervous anymore now that it was just the two of them, and she was glad that Sonic didn't question her about her reaction back at the Center. Sonic smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. "No problem Lavendar." He turned around. "Let's go." With that, the two set off once more down the road, this time, walking at a fairly normal pace.

"Well, we finally made it," Sonic announced, surveying the view in front of him. He made it sound like they had been on a long and treacherous journey when in reality, it had only taken the two hedgehog five minutes to reach their destination, mostly thanks to Sonic's unusual ability. Lavendar brushed the locks of hair out of her face to get a better view of the house in front of her. It wasn't big nor was it small, and it had a nice porch with a hanging wicker basket bobbing in the breeze. Flowers lined the walkway, and as Sonic led her up the porch steps to the door of the house, she saw a small wreath of flowers hanging from a peg that had been nocked into the door. Sonic caught sight of her looking at it and sweat-dropped, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeaah…" he started, looking embarrassed, "That was from a little rabbit friend of mine, she insisted me on wearing it everyday. I decided to just hang it on the door, just so she'll know that I appreciate her kindness." Lavendar reached out and touched it, running her hands on the silky petals. She turned around and her mouth twitched upwards. "How old is she?" The blue hedgehog shrugged and went to open the door handle. "Five years old," he said matter-of-factly, and gave Lavendar a look that challenged her to question him. Instead, Lavendar just twitched her ears and murmured, "Hm." _Five years old? Who is this rabbit? _She thought, but decided not to ask right now. Most likely, Sonic wasn't going to answer her straightly, like how he hadn't answered her question earlier on his speed. And she wouldn't be able to read his thoughts. She inwardly shook her head, remembering how the mist had shrouded his thoughts.

Sonic opened the door and held it open for Lavendar, gesturing for her to enter first. He addressed with mock formality, "Welcome, to your temporary safe house. Don't worry, we have full time running water and no monsters under the bed. Feel free to enter." He bowed with an exaggerated flourish yet he was smothering his chuckles as his head was bent down. Lavendar resisted rolling her eyes at his teasing and stepped inside. She looked curiously inside to find a room to the right of the entrance that seemed to be the living room, with a TV in front, sofas and a little table in the middle. One large, panoramic window was positioned on the right side of the room, and it was open to let the sunshine through. Looking straight in front of her, there was a hallway that had an opening someway down on the left side and further down, opened out to be the dining room. Behind her, Sonic closed the door and came to stand next to her, still talking in a tour-guide fashion, "There are three main rooms downstairs. The living room, the kitchen and the dining room, which, we rarely use," he added unnecessarily. He continued, "There's a backyard, and one bathroom downstairs, as well as a closet, which, you don't want to look into," he added once again and winked.

Lavendar eyed everything with interest. It wasn't like her house, but it was pretty good all the same. She saw some pictures hanging on the wall, but she couldn't see them clearly from her position. Sonic beckoned for her to follow him and they both proceeded down the hallway, during which they passed the kitchen room. He led her to the staircase and went up the stairs, where he started to speak once more, "There are two bathrooms upstairs, my room, my mother's room, the guest room, aka, your room, the washing machine room, and another room that isn't…frequently…used." He kept going and Lavendar followed, wondering what Sonic had meant when one room wasn't used. As they walked down the corridor, Lavendar counted six doors, one for each room Sonic had included except for one, which she assumed was the not used room. Hm…where was it?

She didn't have time to wonder much more, for Sonic suddenly stopped and said, "Well, this is your room."

They had stopped in front of an open door, allowing Lavendar to see the room inside. Sonic gestured for her to go ahead, and she stepped inside, fingering the gem around her neck as she looked around. It was bigger than the room she had had, with a high ceiling that had beams running horizontally across. There was one, vertical window, and a smaller one higher up within the beams. A dresser stood against the back wall. A brown, polished desk with drawers, a lamp and an elaborate mirror on the wall was positioned next to a bed. The bed was near the window, and it looked like the perfect size for her. She went over to it and ran a hand on its smooth sheets, and suddenly, she felt a sense of sadness wash over her. This was going to be her room, and yet…it seemed foreign to her, as if she didn't belong. The high ceiling rose over her head and seemed to watch from above. The bed was cold, as if it hadn't been used in a long time, and subconsciously, she touched a hand to her bandaged shoulder, feeling its rough gauze against her fingers. She realized that Sonic had entered the room and had come to stand next to the bed, standing silently next to her. Lavendar could feel his understanding for her suddenly quiet state, and he said, "It isn't like yours, isn't it?" The magenta hedgehog snapped her head upwards and saw him looking down at her, his expression troubled. Quickly, she tried to smile and she pulled on an eager tone, "No no, it's fine, it's really great, I just need to…"

But one look at Sonic's face and she knew that she hadn't fooled anyone. She let her sentence trail and let her face fall as well, letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry Sonic. I just need to get used to it," she murmured in a quiet voice.

Sonic sat down next to her on the bed, rubbing his chin. For a moment, he didn't say anything, and Lavendar wondered what he was thinking. She closed her eyes and tried to enter his mind, just to feel the mist blocking his thoughts again. She could hear the whisperings of his thoughts just spaces away, yet she couldn't hear them clearly. His emotions were clear and honest enough though, and as she opened her eyes, Sonic leaned forward and patted her shoulder reassuringly. With a smile, he comforted, "Don't worry. You'll get to know it soon enough." He took his hand away and gestured at the room, "It's the guest room. It hasn't been used for some time, and it is kind of plain. Maybe you could decorate it later." Lavendar fiddled with a strand of hair, murmuring, "I guess…thank you though."

After that, Sonic gave her one more short tour of the house, this time, taking her out to the backyard. To her surprise, it was very spacious, almost bigger than the house. There were two benches on the two far sides of the yard, and a big oak tree in the middle with a tire swing hanging from one of its branches. A strange little rock basin that had been molded out of the stone wall at the back of the yard had water filled to the brim with leaves floating on the surface. Behind the low, stone wall was a small hill. Lavendar placed a hand on the oak's big trunk and closed her eyes. Just the tree alone soothed her more than anything, and the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves whistled through her ears.

"You really miss the forest, do you?" the sound of Sonic's voice startled her from her brief content and she turned around to see him sitting on the tire swing, his hair being swept by the breeze. Lavendar could only nod, feeling her throat squeeze painfully from memories, and the blue hedgehog remained silent. He stood up and leaned against the rope attached to the tire and asked, "Who else lived with you? Mother, father, siblings?" For a moment, Lavendar didn't answer, and she traced a finger across the rough texture of the oak. It wasn't that old, she could tell, feeling its life source pulsing in her mind. About 100 or so years…still young and healthy. Unlike Mobians, trees' auras were different. All trees were connected—like a network—with one another. To enter the mind of a tree was like entering a million different minds at once, images and thoughts zooming past so fast that it was enough to drive one mad. Lavendar had never dared try to enter a tree's mind, but she could feel their auras and sense their energy. "My village respected the trees," she murmured. "They say that trees are the wisest living beings of all. Trees never hoarded things, never stole things, never killed things. They just watched silently at their surroundings, observing everything. They contain so much knowledge, see so many things…I know because I can sense it…" She realized that she hadn't answered Sonic's question and instead had been talking to herself. Lavendar quickly turned around and felt her face grow hot. "I'm sorry, I tend to do that when I'm deep in thought—"

But the blue hedgehog just smiled and shook his head. "No no, keep going. Who lived with you in the forest? Family, friends?" Lavendar nodded. "My mother, Helena Silverwind, loved all plants, and she tended her garden so lavishly. She probably cared for her saplings as much as she had cared for me." She said it without any doubt in her voice. "Finn Silverwind, my father, he was a blacksmith. He created weapons for our people, and he even made one for me." Lavendar absentmindedly reached behind just to find that her nun-chuck wasn't there, and her hand dropped to her side. "It's the one thing I have from him…"

"It's a nun-chuck, isn't it?" Sonic interrupted, and she blinked in surprise. Rubbing his nose, he explained, "When you were in the hospital, we took away all of your belongings, and I found that you had a nun-chuck and a locket with you. I'm not into weaponry, but that nun-chuck is one wicked and beautiful weapon, I have to admit." At the sound of this, Lavendar instantly felt relieved that her nun-chuck wasn't lost. It was, like how she had said, her one thing she still had that reminded her of her father. "Where are they right now?" she asked, and Sonic's ears twitched.

"They are still at the hospital. We could pick them up anytime you like," he exclaimed and smirked crookedly, the sun hitting his face and illuminating his emerald eyes. Lavendar was too busy thinking about her possessions to notice this factor, and instead, she leaned against the tree and continued, "Thanks. Those two things mean a lot to me. I haven't really used the nun-chuck before. I never had anyone teach me, and I practiced on my own. I never had to use it until…until…that night…" Lavendar felt the words choke in her throat and she stopped. She shook her head, biting her lip and refusing to cry. She had to be strong and not act like a weakling that couldn't handle herself. Dabbing at her eyes, she quickly recomposed herself and covered the gem on her neck, trying to seek comfort from its warmth. "It's my fault. Those reptiles were after me, and because of me, they burned down the village. They have dark, vile hearts, Sonic," she whispered, feeling fear shiver down her spine as she remembered their black arrows and piercing ice yellow eyes. "They were after me, because, because…they wanted my gem," she finished the sentence in a hurry, afraid that if she dragged it out too long, she would lose her composure. It was already hard enough recalling that night's events, but it would be even harder to explain…"

Her sentence seemed to trigger something in the blue hedgehog for his eyes suddenly lit up and he reached behind him, speaking as he did so, "That reminds me. When I saved you, I found this arrow in your shoulder. Did those reptiles…" he slowly pulled it out, the dark, black tip looking wicked in the sun, "…shoot it at you?"

Lavendar felt her eyes go wide when he held the arrow at in front of her, remembering all too well how it had pierced through her flesh, and she groped at her bandaged shoulder self-consciously. _Even the arrow itself is evil, _she thought as she studied its smooth shaft. She could sense the dark Aura covering its form, and she knew that the Aura belonged to the reptile that had shot her. It was vile, and she recoiled from the arrow her eyes huge.

"That—that night. Three reptiles came after me. This one has its owner's Aura still lingering around it. They all carried arrows like that," she stammered. Lavendar didn't want to look at the arrow. Its dark Aura kept clouding her mind and triggering frightening memories. She felt Sonic's gaze on her as he stepped closer, and he said in an even voice, "The arrow seems to have a symbol etched at the bottom of the shaft. Do you recognize it?" He stepped even closer, but she shrank away, unable to meet his gaze or even glimpse at the arrow. Shaking her head furiously, she replied, "The arrow is evil Sonic. I don't want to look at it, and even if there is a symbol on the bottom of it, I don't know who those reptiles are. They've appeared…they've actually appeared once before at our village, but that was when I was really small, and I hardly remember that day. I'm…I'm sorry." Lavendar felt her gem's warm form press against her chest and she clutched it, concentrating on its aqua sheen and willing it to wash the dark Aura away from her mind. She could feel its power and light fill her mind and push away the dark thoughts, and she felt a little better.

But she wasn't ready to confront the arrow, and she heard Sonic speak in a gentle voice, "Hey, it's ok. If it makes you uncomfortable, then I won't force you to look." With that, the dark Aura seemed to dim, and Lavendar felt its presence fade away. She sneaked a peek at the blue hedgehog. Sure enough, the arrow was no longer in his hands, and it was tucked safely behind his spikes. He didn't have a look of disgust on his face, like how she had expected he would've reacted to her actions, and instead, he had a look of understanding on his features. Instantly, Lavendar felt ashamed at her previous cowardice and she straightened, her cheeks hot. "I'm sorry Sonic. I'm no good, aren't I?" At that, Sonic frowned and his eyebrows furrowed, his expression puzzled. "No good? What do you mean? The arrow bothers you, and there is nothing wrong with that." He wagged a finger in her face and grinned. "I want to help you Lavendar, but I don't want to force you to do anything. You can wait as long as you like." He winked and Lavendar couldn't help but smile back. _He really knows how to cheer Mobians up, _she thought, and she nodded her head. "I'll try to make sure that that time is soon," she added firmly, and the blue hedgehog chuckled. Coming to stand next to her, Sonic gazed up above them at the leafy covering above their heads, his mouth still quirked up in a smile. He exclaimed, "Well, I guess to uphold my end of the agreement, I'll tell you about me. Shall I?" Lavendar nodded, glad to change the topic. He swung around to face her, shadows of the leaves playing on his face as he said matter-of-factly, "First, the basics. My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, which you already know. I'm 15 years old, and I live here with my mom. She won't be home until tomorrow, so I'll introduce her to you then. I have no siblings. My best buddy is Miles Prower, who we just call Tails. He was with me the day we saved you, along with this really grumpy red echidna named Knuckles." He stopped and looked curiously at Lavendar, his eyes sparkling. "You want to ask questions or should I fire facts at you?" Lavendar was a little caught off guard from his sudden question, and she hesitated a while before answering his question with a question, "How…how long have you had the ability to run so fast?" It was the question that she had wanted to ask the whole time, and Sonic screwed his face up and thought for a moment.

"Well, for as far as I can remember, ever since, I guess. Heck, that little episode back at the center? That was nothing compared to my actual pace I like to run. Shall I prove?" Before the magenta hedgehog could answer, he was gone, just like that, a blue light that seemed to trail in the air the only sign that he had been there in the first place. Bemused, Lavendar looked around her, but didn't see the blue hedgehog anywhere. She stepped around the tree and looked at the back of the yard. Nothing. She turned around and walked back to the front. Nothing as well.

"Pretty cool, huh?" his voice was startling close to her ear and she jumped and whirled around in surprised. Sonic was hanging upside down from one of the tree branches, his arms folded and his hair dangling upside down. He grinned at her shocked expression and did a flip onto the tree so that he was standing on the branch, brushing his quills back. "I can run up to more than 768 miles per hour, which is faster than the speed of sound. Don't believe me?" And once again, he dashed away, his speed causing the whole tree to shake. Lavendar had to cover her face at the force, her hair whipping against her arms, and as she uncovered her eyes, she found the blue hedgehog standing nimbly on the top of the oak tree. Amazed, she could only look up at him as he laughed and pivoted on his right toe to face her. Shouting down at her, he exclaimed, "Like I said, amazing right? I'm a machine built for speed!" And with that, he leaped off of the tip. Before Lavendar could shout out at him in surprise, he landed neatly on the ground and took off again, running parallel with the walls surrounding the yard. As he ran, he was just a blue blur, so fast that Lavendar couldn't even keep her eyes on him. She felt him whip past her, blasting her with his wind, and she felt herself breathless with amazement. His legs must be awfully sturdy and powerful to be able to carry him that fast!

Just as the thought passed her head Sonic stopped, abruptly, right in front of her, the whole yard still echoing from his sound boom, making it seem eerily quiet now that he had stopped his frenzy dash. A little startled by his sudden halt, the magenta hedgehog took a step back, staring at the blue hedgehog grinning unfazed at her. Lavendar realized that he wasn't even breathless or tired from the run, and instead seemed to be even more energized and exhilarated than before. Letting out a laugh, Sonic smirked at her expression and asked, "So, what do you think?" He gestured down at his body. The magenta hedgehog could only shake her head, dazed.

"Are…are you a radioactive spider?" she finally managed to say, and Sonic merely chuckled and rubbed his head. "Gee, do I look like I have eight legs? Nah, I'm just your typical blue hedgehog," he exclaimed, but Lavendar shook her head and corrected, "Without the typical, that is. That was incredible."

Before Sonic could reply to her comment, the two heard a loud banging. Surprised, they both swiveled their ears to the sound, hearing a thin and high-pitched voice joining in with the banging. Suddenly, Sonic's green eyes lit up with recognition. "What is _she_ doing here?"

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**And another chapter done. Thanks for reading, please review! **


	7. Chapter 6: The River

**__****Chapter six is here~ Eh...sorry for the slow (and utterly boring) beginning part of this chap...oh but it gets slightly better in the middle at least. The story about Sonic's father is totally made up, (you'll see what I'm talking about). **

**Everything belongs to their rightful owners (XD I'm getting lazier). **

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**_Chapter 6: _**

_The River_

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Hidden within the mountains was a base.

It was large, and it had been shaped out of the very mountain itself, like a cave. Metal walls covered its dome like shape, and light glowed out of its windows. Outside, there was no fence to protect it, for it didn't need one.

Because guarding the heavy bolted door were robots.

The guards were a cold blue with large, convex shaped bodies. They milled around the base, soft beeping sounds emitting from them as they patrolled the mountainside, ready to sound the alert if anyone appeared. Their globed shaped fingers were powerful and dangerous, able to squeeze the breath out of anyone. Their small, domed shaped heads seemed too small for their bodies, and two, blinking yellow eyes protruded out of them.

Of course, if they were to fail to protect the base, the interior of it had plenty of other "defenders" to secure its safety, along with the built in laser beams and security cameras. Whoever owned the base sure wasn't taking any chances.

"Don't you reckon the Doc is being a bit too careful?" a voice sounded from the corridor. Two robots were making their way down the hallway, heading towards a glass door. The one that had just spoken was a small, cube like yellow robot with two, spindly arms. It had a cubic head and a cubic base that allowed it to float in the air. Its blue, glowing eyes were half crescents as it rubbed its head and peered curiously at its counterpart. The other robot was a small, sphere shaped red robot with a domed head and a domed base, allowing it to float next to the yellow robot. The red robot raised its arms and shrugged at the yellow robot's question. "One can't be too careful, Cubot. The doctor can't have anyone interrupting with his plans, especially that up to no good Sonic," it bleeped back. As they reached the door, the one called Cubot punched in the code and the pad lit up with green light, the doors sliding open and accepting their entrance. The two floated cautiously into the dark room, eerie, cold blue light coming from the ceiling. The room wasn't that big, but the giant screens and platform of controls were daunting. Little lights flashed from the controls and buttons, and the screens whirred quietly as they showed images of the base, both interior and exterior. To the right, a single, domed glass case mounted on a steel pedestal was plugged into the controls, something shining from within. Sitting right at the front of the controls was a…

"Ho, ho ho!" a loud laugh came from the figure sitting on the floating chair. Although it was floating, his feet touched the ground because of his long legs. The chair was practically groaning from his weight, for his body was so big and round. As Orbot and Cubot approached, they could see the wide grin on his face.

"Well, the boss seems real happy today," Cubot twanged with a cowboy accent, and at the sound of its voice, the oval shaped man turned his head and instantly dropped his smile and glared at the two of them. Although his eyes were hidden behind his blue glasses, the way his thick eyebrows furrowed together was enough to show his annoyance at their arrival. "Well! Decided to show up you two? As if I hadn't had enough robot chatter today." He stroked his long brown, bushy mustache, and Orbot rung its hands at his comment. "What do you mean by that, Dr. Eggman?" it asked, and the man swung his arm out dramatically at the glass case connected to the controls.

"That, is what I mean. I shouldn't be telling you two this, for you both are just annoying robot junk, but I'm feeling so proud of myself that I must gloat about it." Dr. Eggman turned around, plopped into the chair, and gripped a lever on the armrest. He pushed it forward, and the chair began to hover over to the glass case, leading him towards it. Making a gliding stop, Dr. Eggman gestured at the obscure glass and started to explain, "A squad of robots I sent out earlier went to go looking for Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, they didn't find any, but they did find…" he slowly reached a finger out to press the red button on the pedestal, "…something that is of similar interest." He pressed down, and the glass started to glow with white light. Orbot and Cubot leaned forward with interest when the glass flashed and melted away, leaving the object that had been concealed inside exposed to its inspectors. The two robots bleeped in awe at the glowing object. It was as big as a Chaos Emerald, and four, curved metal rods, pinching it in the middle, were supporting it. It was green, and it was shaped like a jagged lightning bolt. The glow coming from it was warm and soothing, and on impulse, Cubot moved forward to touch it.

And was zapped with an electrifying jolt.

Cubot yelped and reeled backwards, nearly crashing into a surprised Orbot. Dr. Eggman chortled at its shocked expression and shook his head. "That is the problem with this mysterious gem," he tsked, staring at the item. "Every time someone touches it, it produces a shock. But, if you look carefully, you aren't damaged at all, Cubot." At that, Cubot glanced down shakily at its right limb and realized that the Doctor was telling the truth. It had been jolted, but nothing was wrong with its arm. No joint coming loose. No malfunctioning. It was completely normal. Breathing a sigh of relief, Cubot wiped its metal head and muttered, "Keep this up and I'll be a wreck, I reckon." Orbot shook its head and glanced at Dr. Eggman, a question in its glowing eyes.

"So does the shock affect you, Doctor?" it questioned, and Dr. Eggman stroked his mustache thoughtfully, for once, not scolding it for asking a question. "Actually, I haven't even touched it yet. It was a robot I had ordered to set it up in the glass case, and it drove me crazy not being able to examine it. As I said, after the shock, the gem seemed to not affect the robots at all, and they were able to carry it around. However, I was not going to risk getting electrocuted, and so I hooked the gem to the energy reader." As he talked, Orbot looked down on the gem and saw the little cord trailing from it to the panel of controls. Little sparks of light were traveling through the wire and Dr. Eggman maneuvered his chair away from the pedestal and to the panel. Orbot and Cubot followed behind, and they watched as the Doctor pulled something up on the screen, overlapping the images of the base. It showed the outline of the gem, and charts, bars and binary code messages flashed across the screen. Dr. Eggman punched the buttons and a particular picture came up where the gem was shown close up with little arrows coming out of it. He studied the screen as he observed mostly to himself, "Based on my findings, this gem isn't like a Chaos Emerald. It has different energy readings and levels. It is extremely sensitive and has an irregular circulation of energy. It seems to not fit in any of my transmitting devices either. What a peculiar discovery!" He suddenly exclaimed and stood up, the chair spinning back a few inches from his sudden movement. He turned to Orbot and Cubot, who had driven clear of his chair, and clasped his hands together, rubbing them almost greedily. "What I have discovered might be a new revolution! If I can just harness its power, without getting myself zapped, I can use it to build my new Eggman Empire! Just think about the new opportunities upon my discovery!" He turned around to look at the screen again, a grin on his face as he looked at the gem. "Maybe, there are more of them, and with the Chaos Emeralds _combined…_" he chuckled at the very thought and began punching buttons.

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"It's coming from the front door," Sonic exclaimed, already moving towards the house. The banging was louder now, but Lavendar still couldn't make out what the high-pitched voice was saying. She followed the blue hedgehog back into the house, sliding the door behind her. Sonic took a step and dashed through the hall in a single second, reaching the front door. Lavendar was slower though, and when she came behind the hedgehog, the door was already open, and sunlight streamed through. She approached hesitantly next to Sonic, who was busy staring at the subject that was outside, and whom presumably had been banging at the door. It was a…

"Sonic! Oh, I'm, so, glad, you're, home," the little brown rabbit panted, rocking on her toes. Her ears were drooping and shaking with exhaustion, and her fur was ruffled. Next to her, a small, blue creature about the size of her hand with pink wings and a read bowtie circled urgently about, squeaking "Chao chao chao!" Lavendar could only stare at them as Sonic opened the door wider and rubbed his head confusedly. He said in a slightly bemused tone, "Uh…Cream, what a surprise. Didn't expect you to come by today? Did your mom come with you?" At the word "mom", the small rabbit suddenly jerked upright, her eyes wide with urgency and fear. "Oh no! How could I tell mother what happened? She would worry herself sick!" she exclaimed in a high-pitched squeak, biting her lower lip as she did so. Lavendar stepped forward from behind Sonic to get a better look at her. The rabbit, which she presumably thought was Cream, was small, about up to Sonic's chin. Her orange dress was dirty, and her cream colored fur was matted. When she looked up, her eyes were a chocolate brown. Suddenly, a memory was triggered, and Lavendar glanced at the wreath of flowers hanging on the front door, remembering what Sonic had said. _"That was from a little rabbit friend of mine, she insisted me on wearing it everyday. I decided to just hang it on the door, just so she'll know that I appreciate her kindness."_

So, this was the rabbit. And her little Chao was still flying in agitated circles around her. Suddenly, he felt Lavendar's gaze on him and stopped in mid-flight, staring at her with blue eyes. Lavendar looked back, and he tilted his small head to one side. "Chao?" he asked curiously, and at the sound of his voice, Cream looked at him and followed his gaze, for the first time catching sight of the magenta hedgehog half hidden in the shadows of the house. Her eyes widened in surprise and she asked, "Sonic, who's that other hedgehog behind you?" Sonic turned around, seeming a little surprised that Lavendar was there behind him; as if he had forgotten she was there in the first place. When Lavendar said nothing, he gently nudged her forward so that she was standing at the doorframe, and the sun lit up her whole being. Smiling, he faced Cream again and explained, "Let me introduce you two. Cream, this is Lavendar Silverwind. She's going to be a guest here for a while. And Lavendar, this is Cream the Rabbit. She was the Mobian I was telling you about earlier." He was about to close his mouth when the Chao flew forward and grabbed his ear, pulling it down vigorously. "Chao chao chhaoo!" he protested, and Sonic chuckled and grabbed at him, unsuccessfully trying to make him let go. "Oh, I haven't forgotten you," he retorted, although Lavendar knew that he actually had and was trying to cover it up. "This is Cheese," he half turned to Lavendar, half tried to shake his head to get rid of the Chao. "He's a nice little fella, well, if you make sure not to tip him off." With a jerk, Sonic pulled the blue Chao off his ear and held him with his hand, holding him out in front of Cream. Cheese squirmed out of his grasp and leaped for Cream, burying himself in her collarbone. Cream giggled and caught him while Sonic rubbed his ear. "He's small, but he's stronger than he looks," he murmured around his mouth at Lavendar so only she could hear.

Lavendar's ears twitched and she faced the two Mobians. "Nice to meet you Cream," she stretched out a hand and said, hoping she sounded friendly. Luckily, the rabbit smiled and grasped her hand with both of hers, shaking it eagerly. "Nice to meet you too, Lavendar! Welcome to New Mobotropolis!" Cheese flew up to her head and put a small paw under his chin as if examining her. Lavendar blinked and tentatively put her other hand in front of him. "Nice to meet you too, Cheese," she repeated, and he broke into a smile, grasping her hand with all four of his little paws. "Chao chao!" he exclaimed, and he whirled around in circles around her.

"He says he likes you, and that you are very nice," Cream translated, watching him fly like a mini plane. Lavendar smiled too, glad that she had been accepted. However, Sonic seemed a little impatient, and he cut in before Lavendar could reply. "That's nice that you are all getting along," he said, seemingly genuinely happy. "But Cream, you seemed pretty nervous a few minutes ago. What's the matter? And how did you get here all by yourself? Shouldn't your mom Vanilla be with you?" He crossed his arms, cocking his head to the side while Lavendar couldn't help but run the names through her head. Cream, Cheese and Vanilla? _It kind of sounds like a bakery now, _she thought in her head, but quickly dismissed it.

At the sound of his serious tone, Cream's smile melted off her face and was replaced with a grim line of worry. Fiddling with the yellow bow on her chest, she replied in a soft voice, "This morning, me and Cheese were down at the valley picking flowers. I was going to make more flower crowns for my mom. The flowers are really beautiful this time of year…" she glanced at the wreath hanging on the door and sighed. Lavendar couldn't help but wonder if the rabbit was regretting giving her crown to Sonic (since he never really wore it). Sonic saw her look at the flowers and hastily took it off the door, looping it around his neck and grinning sheepishly. "Yeah, the flowers are really nice," he sniffed their aroma, and the little rabbit perked her ears up a little more. She continued, "They smell so nice and look so pretty…but while I was picking, I heard something go crack in the flowerbed. There was this really big and black figure crouching in the flowers, and when it saw me it had a really scary, red bow on its back!"

Suddenly, at the word "bow", both Lavendar and Sonic's eyes widened. However, it was Lavendar who pushed forward and stood urgently in front of the rabbit, her eyebrows furrowed. "Did you say bow?" she asked intensely. Cream took a step back at her sudden graveness, looking up at her with big eyes. Realizing that she had startled the young girl, the magenta hedgehog relaxed her stance a little, bent down and stared intensely into the rabbit's eyes, willing her to continue. "Did you actually make out what the creature was? Or had it been covered by a black cloak?" she prompted, and Cream's eyes lit with recollection. She nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes! It was wearing a bulky black coat or cape. And it had really, scary yellow eyes! It made me feel really cold when I looked into them…" she shivered from the memory, and Cheese landed on her shoulder to reassure her.

But Lavendar was too busy staring into space. _It must be the same Mobians that attacked me that night,_ she thought, her heart pounding. She instinctively clutched at the gem around her neck, a bead of sweat collecting on her forehead. So they were still after her…the very thought made her shiver, even though it was warm and sunny. She wasn't safe here, how long would it take for them to reveal her location? A week? A day? A couple of hours? But she had to make sure that her assumption was correct. Did Cream really see one of those foul creatures? And where had they seen Cream? She couldn't imagine how scared the poor rabbit would've been…

"…and then me and Cheese got out of there, before the other one could catch up!" the rabbit's thin voice broke through her frozen trance and she blinked, returning to the present. She realized that she had been kneeling on the floor; staring at the ground the whole time while Cream had continued telling her story to Sonic. The blue hedgehog's eyebrows were furrowed and he scratched his head. "That's pretty dangerous Cream. You could've gotten hurt by that knife…" he said, and Lavendar's ears twitched. Turning around, she looked up at the hedgehog with a questioning look on her face.

"Knife…Cream?" she asked, and Sonic shifted position so that he was leaning on his left leg, nodding his head. "She said that another figure was also with that reptile, and that he or she had thrown a knife at her," he repeated, his face concerned. "It sounds crazy but…it's a crazy world we live in…" The blue hedgehog suddenly righted and stood in front of Cream, Lavendar still crouching on the floor with a bewildered look on her face. "Hey Cream, long story, but from what you've described, Lavendar was being chased by one of those Mobians you were talking about a while ago. She got hurt pretty badly, and so that's why she's staying with me right now," he explained, gesturing at Lavendar and her bandaged shoulder as he spoke. "Can you take us to the place where you saw them?"

At this, Cream's eyes widened as she looked Lavendar over again, noticing her bandaged shoulder and letting out a squeak. "Oh! I do hope you're feeling better, Miss Lavendar!" Lavendar gave her a grim smile, and the rabbit turned around to face Sonic again, her brown eyes determined, "I don't want anymore Mobians getting hurt. I know Sonic can stop them. I'll take you there, Sonic!" she exclaimed, Cheese squeaking in agreement. The blue hedgehog grinned at her and gave her a thumbs-up. "Alright!" He turned to Lavendar, who was slowly standing up and brushing herself off. Giving her a curious look, the blue hedgehog put one hand on his hip and smirked at the other hedgehog. Lavendar didn't need to ask him to know what he was thinking; she could hear his thoughts well enough, and something like a wave flared inside her. "I'm coming too," she said defiantly, meeting the hedgehog's green eyes. "Don't try to stop me from coming. I may be injured but…" she covered her gem with one hand, "I'm not going to wait here and let the enemy find me." _And I will avenge the death of my loved ones, _she amended furiously.

However, no matter how hard she tried, a small, taunting voice kept echoing inside of her, _"You can't do anything. You nearly lost it just by being near the evil aura around the arrow. How can you possibly stand up against them?" _She swallowed, feeling her gem glow with warmth. She had to at least understand the situation she was in right now. However, fighting was a different matter entirely. She knew that the skills she possessed now were not effective enough, but it was at least something. "I would also feel more secure with my nun-chuck with me," she stated, and the blue hedgehog's ears twitched. He let out a short huff and smirked again, glancing at her slyly and answering in an almost boasting tone, "Ha! With me around, you'll feel real secure, I assure you." He snagged a finger through the leaf wreath around his neck and twirled it slightly, watching the petals brush against his finger. "But we'll get your nun-chuck. And I'll let you come along, even though Dr. Quack will probably kill me if he ever finds out." With that, he tipped the wreath onto his head, where it rested slightly crooked and looped around his right ear.

Lavendar nearly sighed in relief. So he was letting her come. She had been afraid he would force her to rest, but it seemed that Sonic understood her intentions. Giving him a nod, she faced Cream and urged, "Please show us the way Cream."

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"So you're saying you flew all the way here Cream?" Sonic questioned, jogging at a leisurely pace. The little rabbit was flapping her long ears vigorously as she flew close to the ground, Cheese closely beside her. They had already stopped by at the hospital, although Sonic had seemed really anxious of getting out of there. Lavendar knew he was afraid of getting caught by Dr. Quack, but luckily, they hadn't seen feather or tail of the doctor. Sonic had let Lavendar go into the storage room alone, and so she had stuffed the only two belongings she had left with her; the nun-chuck and the crystal locket, into her pocket. She had quickly retrieved her nun-chuck, which fortunately hadn't been damaged in her fall, but had taken some time to inspect the locket. It was shaped as an oval and was made of a very fine, white crystal material. There was an intricate pattern in the middle of the outer shell. She couldn't quite make out what the pattern was, but she had dismissed it when she clicked the outer cover open. Inside, there was no pattern, but the crystallized walls had seemed to give off a milky sheen when she had gazed at the picture inside. In the photo were three Mobians, her mother, father, and Raven. Their eyes and smiling faces gazed up at her, causing her heart to ache. She had kneeled on the floor of the storage room, staring at the Mobians she had loved the most, trembling with agony and anger. _I promise to avenge your death Raven; _she had vowed mentally. _I promise to avenge all of you. _

Now she was having a hard time believing that a rabbit could actually fly.

"Yes, it's tiring and I nearly crashed into a tree," Cream huffed, shaking her matted fur, "but it's the quickest way to the valley. Oh!" She suddenly stopped in mid-air, twirling her ears like a propeller above her head. "This part is difficult!"

The four had come to the outskirts of New Mobotropolis. Fortunately, Cream had shouted out a warning, and the three of them had stopped. Cheese had to backpedal in the air to stop him from barging onwards, and he looped around, landing on Cream's head. Lavendar, panting from the over excursion of running for so long, widened her eyes as she took in the view.

In front of them was a steep gorge, sloping down at such an angle that it was impossible to slide down without falling face down at the bottom. In fact, there was no ground to land on, and instead, a fast moving river met the base of the cliff, its water lapping at the hard packed dirt. When Sonic put a foot cautiously over the edge, loose dirt came free and he stepped back, saving himself from tumbling down into the river below. Unfortunately, the flower wreath on his head came loose and fluttered down below. Cream did a little bounce and launched herself after it, emerging a few seconds later with the wreath in her hands. Flapping her ears and turning around to face the two hedgehogs standing on the edge of the gorge. "I forgot about this part. It's a lot easier to fly across, but only me and Cheese can do that," she squeaked, looking around for another way to get across the obstacle. Lavendar peered down over the edge of the gorge, hearing its soft murmuring even from this height. The little waves seemed to invite her down, willing her to jump down into the water below, its hushed gurgling beckoning, _Come, there is nothing to fear, not when one is whole in the water. _The magenta hedgehog shook her head, blinking in the sunlight. Was this all her imagination? How could water seemingly communicate with her? And yet…closing her eyes, she felt the deep pulse of aura emitting from the river, as if it were alive. Deciding to take a risk, she plunged herself in the river's thoughts, and found herself being washed around, like a pebble, in the tide. It was as if she were actually in the water, a part of the river itself, flowing rapidly downstream, passing by everything in just seconds. Fish swum within her, their slippery bodies gliding against the water. Pebbles tumbled around at the bottom of the riverbed. As she made this journey, she suddenly felt something brush against the tide, causing the water to corrupt and split around the object. She could make out the solid shape of a tree's root, protruding out of the bank and snaking into the riverbed, and suddenly, her eyes flickered open and she let out a gasp.

Sonic's ears swiveled towards her and he looked at her curiously, asking, "Hey, what's up?" Lavendar had to swallow a few times and recollect her thoughts before she turned towards him and started walking, passing by the hedgehog and still going further. Sonic watched confusedly as the magenta hedgehog reached the right side of the ledge and pointed, exclaiming, "See that huge tree there? Positioned on the side of the bank where the cliff is?" She pointed towards a large, oak tree that was so big that a couple branches rested on the top of the ledge, creating a mini bridge from the cliff to its trunk. She hadn't noticed it before, but after being in the river's thoughts, it seemed to stand out against anything else. Sonic approached it and took a good look, inspecting the tree from top to bottom, all the while rocking back on his left foot. Lavendar continued, "If we could somehow make the tree fall over on its side, it could make a bridge over the river, and if we do it just right, the trunk won't actually touch the water with its branches supporting it…" She trailed off, thinking about what would happen if they completely sealed off the rushing water. It would cause the fish in the river to die, and possibly over flood the banks. She didn't want that to happen.

Sonic wrenched her thoughts back to the present when he suddenly chuckled and leaped right off the ledge and landed on the tree's branch, his blue quills flexing a little as he stood on the balls of his toes. "Well, that's great thinking Lavendar. You just gave me an idea." He faced the trunk. "We can't just knock the tree over and jump off, it's too risky. I can probably manage it, but with your injured shoulder, I don't want you getting hurt. So, we'll have to climb the tree first, and then…" he took a half step and then jumped onto the next branch, sliding into a crouch as the leaves skimmed over his head and back, "…I'll take it from there."

Cream propelled herself forward, looking over her shoulder as she called out, "We'll meet you on the other side, Sonic, Lavendar! I'll keep the crown with me for now, so it won't fall off during your climb!" With that, the rabbit and the chao descended towards the riverbed. Lavendar eyed the tree in front of her, looking at the distance between each branch. "What do you mean you'll take it from there?" she asked, rotating her ears. _It was just a thought, didn't actually think he would agree to it, besides, how are we going to break the tree..? _She thought, but Sonic was already climbing up the tree, jumping nimbly to each branch, and she decided to just go along with it. It wasn't hard. She took a step forward, putting one foot on the branch. Back at her own village, she climbed trees all the time. The only problem with that was that she was scared of heights, and so she had always climbed to a certain spot before coming back down. This tree was really high up, and as she scaled along the branch, she forced herself to not look down. She made it to the trunk and hoisted herself onto the second branch, the move coming to her with ease, but her hands felt clammy as she gripped the branch. _I won't look down, I won't look down, _she reminded herself repetitively, regaining her balance. Something rustled above her, and when she peered up, she saw Sonic crouching on a branch higher up, his eyes watching her.

"Hey, you're pretty good," he complimented, and Lavendar quirked her mouth upwards, brushing against some leaves as she made her way towards him. "Thanks, I climbed trees a lot back at Homotropolis, and I…" Suddenly, in the middle of her sentence, the tree branch that had been supporting her weight on creaked and cracked, and she was jerked downwards, leaves shaking at the movement. Dazed, she felt her other arm losing its grip on the above branch, and she clawed at the trunk, desperately grabbing onto the bark. The branch hadn't cracked all the way though, but it kept slipping under her weight. Lavendar tried to find another branch to put her foot on.

And made the mistake of looking down.

Her stomach made a flip-flop as she wobbled, her eyesight blurring and her fingers felt weak. She was high up in the tree, and the distance between her and the river loomed ominously. The river itself wasn't frightening, for some strange reason, she wasn't afraid of falling into the water. No, she was only afraid of the height that she would fall from if it were to happen. She could feel the branch about to snap, and all she could do was stand there, frozen with shock.

Suddenly, she felt a breeze from behind her, and she was whisked up, her head tilting upwards and spinning away from the river so that she was looking up at the sky. She felt herself being carried upwards, away from the damaged branch, and she heard Sonic saying, "Whew, that was close."

The blue hedgehog was carrying her in his arms, one hand leaning against the tree trunk and the other wrapped under the small of her back. They had nearly reached the top of the tree, and the sun shone down on Lavendar, who was still shocked. Sonic slowly set her down and righted her on the branch, and she felt herself pitch forward. The blue hedgehog grabbed her by the waist, exclaiming, "Whoa! Careful now. I caught you just in time. That branch couldn't hold on any longer." The branch had long already snapped, and the remains of it tumbled down into the river below, disappearing with a splash. Lavendar shook her head, trying to shake off her dazed feeling. If she had been on the branch for just a second longer…the thought made chills crawl up her spine. Leaning on the trunk for support, she blushed furiously and muttered, "I'm so sorry Sonic. I was being foolish, how could I think that I would've been able to pull that off…" She sneaked a peek at the blue hedgehog, who was standing on the opposite side of the branch. He looked slightly confused, and he cocked his head to the right. "No problem, but…what happened? You seemed pretty steady in the beginning…did something startle you?"

His question seemed harmless enough, yet Lavendar could feel herself hesitant to answer. Being acrophobic wasn't anything to be proud of, and she was already ashamed of herself, putting her life and Sonic's at risk. She didn't want him to think of her as a coward…but she could feel his gaze on her, and she shuffled and looked at her boots as she replied, "Well, you see, I'm not particularly fond of…heights." She sweat-dropped and rubbed her head, feeling her cheeks flame. Back at her village, when she was young, she had been teased often by the other kids because of this, and they hadn't allowed her to play along with them, or even let her climb trees, saying it was a disgrace for a tree to be climbed by a Mobian afraid of its height. It had always bothered her to let anyone know of her fear of heights, and she couldn't meet Sonic's eyes now as she waited for his response.

To her surprise, Sonic came forward so that he was standing right in front of her, putting one hand on the trunk so that he was slightly leaning forwards towards her. When she looked up quizzically at him, he had a knowing expression on his face and he said, "Don't be ashamed of your fear. Everyone has their fears, and all you can do is try and overcome it." A little bit breathless at being so close to the blue hedgehog, Lavendar could only stare into his green eyes and whisper, "You-you have a fear?" For some reason, she couldn't picture Sonic fearing anything. He seemed so confident with everything, eager to take on any task. But a strange expression crossed over his features, and he withdrew from her suddenly, turning his back as he stated flatly, "Yes, I have many fears, Lavendar, and they can be very…complicated." He paused, and Lavendar slowly stepped away from the trunk, feeling herself steady once more. She watched Sonic standing there, silent, his fists slightly clenched, and she didn't even have to sense that a thick wall was blocking his thoughts. "Sonic…" she began, but he turned around again, glancing down at the river below. "But this isn't a time to discuss that. We have to get over the river. Cream will be waiting," he replied briskly, and Lavendar blinked, her unfinished sentence trailing in the air. Sonic stepped closer to the edge of the branch, bending forward a little to keep his weight evenly balanced. Taking a glance over his shoulder back at Lavendar, he ordered, "Stay close to the trunk. When you see I'm almost through, prepare to jump. It'll be a little scary, especially being so high up, but don't worry. I'll make sure you're safe." He smiled, and it was as if the tense moment before hadn't happened. But Lavendar knew that he was still bothered, inside. She wanted to apologize for making him feel so uncomfortable, but she didn't even have time to take in a breath when the blue hedgehog took a step forward.

And jumped off the branch.

"Hey!" Lavendar cried out, but she remembered his words and forced herself to lean against the trunk, her hands gripping the wood. What was he doing? She peered over the side of the branch and saw him falling down, but during his descent, he pulled his legs close to his body, and started to spin, fast, until he was just a rotating blue ball. He suddenly changed direction and angled toward the bottom of the trunk, smashing head on into it. The whole tree shuddered at the impact, and Lavendar jerked her head upwards, not believing her eyes. She couldn't see Sonic anymore from her position, but she could hear and feel the tree's trunk being cut into, like a razor cutting into wood, and started feeling the tree lean backwards. Clinging to the trunk, Lavendar saw the river looming closer and closer, and she remembered what Sonic had said, _"When you see I'm almost through, prepare to jump." _Did that mean when he was almost done cutting, she would have to jump? Jump where? Down? Up? Left? Right? A loud groan filled her ears, and she clenched her jaws, bracing herself. She'll just have to jump and trust Sonic. The thought of jumping from this height made her heart leap, but there was no time to think. The tree was about to collapse. She took a running start, and right when the tree snapped, she boosted herself up into the air.

Perfect timing. Right when her foot left the trunk, the tree trunk split and tumbled over on its side, crashing onto the river. Water splashed up everywhere, and Lavendar was pelted with droplets. She could feel herself suspended in air, as if she was flying, but she knew it wouldn't last. In a few seconds, she would be plummeting down.

Suddenly, she sensed something rushing towards her, and then felt arms encircle her. Gasping, she cleared the water from her eyes to see Sonic, carrying her, and to feel them rushing downwards. For a brief second, their eyes made contact, and the blue hedgehog smiled at her crookedly, giving her a wink. The next second, he suddenly tensed and tilted his head downwards so that he was covering her in a protective manner. He braced himself, bent his knees and landed in the middle of the tree trunk, causing the trunk to bob from his impact. Lavendar felt him resound the impact and he lifted his head again steadily, preparing to get up.

And he suddenly collapsed.

"Sonic! What…" she exclaimed urgently, panic creeping into her voice. The blue hedgehog had seemed absolutely fine when they had landed, but then all of a sudden, his knees had buckled, and now he was kneeling on the trunk, breathing hard. He was still holding her tightly though, but she could feel his breath rasping and his body shaking. Bewildered, Lavendar wriggled herself free and hurriedly got to her feet, kneeling down next to the hedgehog, who pitched forward and landed on his hands. "What happened? Are you ok? Say something!" she pleaded, putting her hand on his shoulder and shaking him. His eyes were shut, and his body was tense and curled in a defensive pose, as if he was anticipating an attack. Did he get attacked during their fall? Lavendar hadn't sensed or seen anybody. She looked about, trying to search for Cream, but there was no sight of her. She had to do something quick.

Suddenly, Sonic let out a breath and said in a strained voice, "No, Lavendar, it's-it's ok. I'm fine." He opened his eyes, his pupils a little dilated and he hunched his shoulders, trying to slow his rapid breathing. Lavendar peered anxiously at him. A bead of sweat had collected on his forehead, but he raised an arm to brush it away, and he let go of the branch, crouching on his feet and staring at the water. Where his hands had been on the trunk, there were deep gouge marks, and Lavendar realized that he had been gripping the tree with an iron grip. Tentatively, she examined the blue hedgehog, seeing that he had seemed to have recovered from…whatever it was that happened. His face was distant, and his eyes were fixed on the water, his reflection staring back at him, and Lavendar felt a hollow feeling inside him, as if he was lost in his own self. "Sonic…what happened?" she asked, and the hedgehog blinked, letting out a breath. Without turning to look at Lavendar, he said in a soft voice, "When I landed, I was suddenly struck by a memory."

The river rushed past under them, and the sound of birds chirping could be heard. Lavendar realized that the two of them were the only ones there, and her ears twitched. Where was Cream? Perhaps she was further down the path, waiting. Would she have known what happened to Sonic?

Sonic slowly closed his eyes, his face once again regaining its distant look, and he murmured, "I think it was because of the same scene that triggered it. It was the day when my father died."

Lavendar's eyes widened in shock, and she breathed, "Your father is…" She had never even thought about Sonic's family. She had only been grieving over he loss of her own, and now, she lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry."

To her surprise, Sonic's head shot up and he snarled, "It's no one's fault but my own. I was the reason for his death. I knew what I was doing was dangerous, but I did it anyway, and I paid with my father's life." He shook violently and his breathing had sped up again. Lavendar shrunk backwards in alarm. She had only known Sonic for a few days, but she had never seen him like this before. His usual green and warm aura had somehow turned cold and a dark blue. His green eyes, usually lively and playful were dark and sorrowful, and for a second, he was someone else. No longer the calm, laid back hedgehog a few minutes before.

He must've realized what he had done, for he flattened his ears against his head. Bowing his head, he said, "I'm sorry Lavendar. I didn't mean to take it out on you. Don't be scared ok?" He leaned forward so that he was crouching just a few inches away from her. "You trust me do you?" His aura had returned to green, and there was no longer anger on his face. The magenta hedgehog paused for a few seconds. Just now, she had sensed a significant change in Sonic's aura, and it made her wonder what inner turmoil he was really feeling. It would explain why he was always blocking his thoughts.

But this was a hedgehog that had saved her life, who had been so kind to help her with her troubles. She had to at least help him with his troubles as well in return. Lavendar nodded and relaxed her tensed position. "I trust you Sonic," she replied, and despite everything, Sonic actually smiled. Sitting back on the trunk, he tilted his head upwards and gazed at the sky, the wind making his quills sway gently. "I was a small kid back then. It had been a sunny day, right after it had stopped raining. My father was taking me out for a walk. Well, he was walking, but I was running." He chuckled, his eyes warm as he recalled the fond memories. "My dad was scolding me as usual, saying that if I wasn't careful, I would hurt myself. How right he was." Lavendar could sense a change in his tone now, and realized that he was getting to the main part.

"We were walking alongside a river, and it was slightly flooded with all the water from the rain. It was really fast and deep too. I saw a log in the middle of the river and thought I could prove to my dad that I wouldn't get hurt. In the beginning I was fine. But in the middle, it got really slippery, and well, I lost my footing and fell into the river. It was so fast moving, I couldn't swim and I couldn't breathe." Sonic shuddered, staring at the water's surface. "My dad jumped in to save me. I was heading toward these very sharp rocks, and he managed to get to me and shove me on a little flat rock close to the bank. But he himself failed to grab a hold of it. I could only watch in horror as he flailed and was shredded by the sharp stones…" his voice caught and he went silent, his ears drooping by the side of his head, his eyes shut as if to block out the horrible images. Lavendar sat in silence, feeling bad for the hedgehog. It must've been terrible, watching his father die in front of his very own eyes and not have been able to do anything. At least she hadn't watched her parents burn to death; it would've driven her insane.

She didn't know what to do, watching Sonic suffer. He was still crouching on the edge of the trunk, his eyes closed, his head bowed. She decided to move close to him and press against his side, a simple comforting gesture, and kept quiet, letting the hedgehog grieve. The river made small hushing noises at them, and Lavendar felt her gem glow, and once again, she heard the water whispering at her, as if it were trying to talk. She wanted to snap at it and tell it to be quiet so Sonic could have some peace, but knew it would be foolish. How could water possibly talk?

At that moment, Sonic finally unfroze and let out a long breath, acknowledging Lavendar there against him. His green eyes like emeralds, he continued, "From that day on, I've been terrified of water. Yes, I am hydrophobic, that's one of my biggest fears, like how you're acrophobic. And just being on this trunk gives me chills. When I landed, I imagined that this trunk was that log again, and that I was in the middle of it, on the slippery part, and that I would fall again. That's why I collapsed."

He slowly stood up, Lavendar getting up as well, and she watched as he stared off into the distance. "I found my father's body later, on the banks of the shore, and on that very day, I made a promise," he exclaimed, his voice determined and hard. "I vowed that I would never, ever, put anyone's life at risk again because of me. I promised to get stronger, so that I could protect others. I would never let any one else put their life at risk to save mine, and instead, do all I can to risk my life to help others." He turned and fixed Lavendar with an unwavering gaze. "That's why Lavendar, I want to help you. To help you avenge your loved ones' deaths. To never let go even if I do fall one day. Because I know how it feels to lose someone you care about. Unfortunately, I can't really get my revenge on water now, can I?" he remarked humorlessly. "But if those cloaked Mobians are out there, we'll find them, I promise."

Lavendar felt taken aback at his defiant tone. _He's one strong hedgehog, _She thought in her head. Compared to her, she was a coward. Yes, she wanted to avenge the death of her loved ones, but would she be so brave as to risk her life for total strangers? Like she was to him, a stranger he happened to save? No, and that's why, she admired his courage and his determinedness. Lavendar fixed him with a gaze just as strong as his and said, "I truly am grateful, Sonic. I vow to get stronger, to overcome my fear over them." She covered her gem with her hand, feeling a soft pulse throughout her body. "I don't know why they are after my gem, but it cost my family and my loved ones' lives." She felt anger spark inside her, and she turned her back, facing the opposite bank. "I want to get them back for that. I want to find their reason. My gem means a lot to me and it's special, but what would they want with it? That's why, I have to know."

Sonic watched the new, determined figure of the magenta hedgehog, and he smiled inside. _She's different from the frightened hedgehog she was during the hospital, _he thought, and he nodded. "Let's go find Cream and get out of here," he replied. With that, the two made their way to the other bank and headed down the path.

The massive tree lay on its side, the flow of the water still smooth and unbroken. Under the water, something red flared, then went dark.

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**Aw...poor Sonic...how does he live with that type of guilt? Anyways, thanks for reading! The next chapter will be up...sometime!**


	8. Chapter 7: Aquarius

**Lo and behold, I'm alive. Lol, sorry for such a late update, high school is tough. Enjoy!**

**Sega characters belong to Sega. Lavendar, Eclipse, Venars, Senascor all belong to me**

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**_Chapter 7: _**

_Aquarius_

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Eclipse blinked lazily, soaring high in the sky, her inky, black wings slicing through the air. It was sunny up here, and it bothered her vision, which annoyed her. How was she supposed to hunt when she couldn't see properly? Her black, beady eyes were bright and shiny, and a thin, red scar ran from the top lid to the bottom on her right eye. She let out an annoyed caw, scouring the land below. Senascor and…Venars were a little behind. They had left the valley as soon as they finished lunch, for their identity had been revealed and they didn't want any more trouble. Venars had chosen to use a more difficult path instead of the more straightforward one out of the valley, so they could travel in daylight without being seen. It meant climbing through more bushy undergrowth, but it was necessary.

Eclipse had eaten as well, but she was craving for some more. Maybe something bigger, larger, not as tough like the mouse she had earlier. Angling her wings downward a little, she decided to check the waterfall area, where there might be some prey roaming around for a drink. Wheeling around, she headed back the way she came, the valley coming into her view as she approached the white water of the fall.

It wasn't a big waterfall, but it wasn't a small one either. On top, a sharp cliff jutted out, and water thundered down, spraying mist into the air. As the black crow slowed down her flight, she hovered over the pool of water that collected beneath the waterfall, searching for any sign of life.

Suddenly, a flash of yellow caught her eyes, and she swiveled her head towards it. It seemed that someone was there, crouching beside the pool of water with another, gray, box-like shape behind it. Gliding a bit closer, she made out the shape of two furry ears, furry whiskers, and – she peered closer and nearly cawed in surprise – two furry lumps that looked like tails. "What, what type of creature would have two tails?" She murmured to herself silently, her voice croaking at the end of each sentence. It seemed to be scooping up water and storing it into the contraption behind it, rubbing its head and turning around.

Which gave Eclipse a view of its face.

"A fox!" she exclaimed, and she felt herself grin slyly. A fox eh? Furry, but a decent meal, nonetheless.

Making her descent, the crow flew silently to one of the trees next to the pool of water. She would make this quick, and then, she would rejoin her comrade, Venars, and Senascor on their search for Lavendar and her gem.

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"Sorry for that, I forgot that it would be hard for you and Lavendar to get across, especially with Lavendar's injured shoulder. Miss Lavendar didn't hurt herself, did she?" Cream squeaked, asking Lavendar, who was currently busy staring at her gem. A little caught off guard by Cream's question, Lavendar glanced upwards and blinked a couple of times. "Hm? Oh, no, of course not," she replied hastily, which fortunately, Cream just smiled to and resumed talking in her high-pitched voice.

The four were walking on a sloped path, grass and trees lining the sides. Cheese was darting about here and there, shooting into the trees and coming back out again with fruit. Cream had put Sonic's flower wreath on her head, as if she had forgotten that it was for the blue hedgehog and not hers. And Sonic…Lavendar peered at him. He was walking in front of her, half listening to Cream's chatter and at the same time looking around at his surroundings. When they had met up with Cream after the river incident, Sonic had reverted back to his normal self, and Lavendar almost tried to convince herself that what had happened must've been her imagination.

Almost. If she didn't have the ability to read minds, she would've almost succeeded. Sonic's usual, thick mind barrier was still there, but she could feel something dark and empty inside of him, like a weight, pressing him down. She knew he still blamed himself for his father's death, and she didn't know how to make him feel any better. She just hoped that he would recover.

Looking back at her gem, Lavendar studied the glowing, transparent object, tracing over the lines that ran through it. It brought back a lot of memories. She had found the gem a long time ago, when she was a young girl, in a place near a mountain. She remembered that she had accidently stumbled and lost her footing, and landed somewhere in the bushes. After crawling for some time, she had approached a small spring, with lush green trees and sparkling water. There had also been a temple, she couldn't really remember what it had looked like, but she knew that it had given off a sacred feeling. After wandering for some time in the temple, she had come into a room, a big one, and only one thing had been in it.

A statue.

Lavendar couldn't remember what the statue had looked like, but she remembered that whomever it had been representing had been holding a gray, basin made of stone. When she had looked inside, it had been filled with water, and then, her blue gem had been glowing inside. When she had reached out to touch it, the gem had flashed white, and it was as if a typhoon had stirred up inside her, jolting her with a shock, binding her there, but not wounding her. Whisperings like waves had filled her mind, and then, abruptly, it all stopped. The gem had reverted back to its normal glow, and from that day on, Lavendar had never let it out of her sight ever since. The next day she came, she had brought a mahogany cord to sling the gem around her neck. It had stirred many questions around her village, but no one had dared tried to steal it or touch it. It seemed to only allow Lavendar to be able to touch it.

That is, until one day, it all changed.

"Hey Lavendar," a voice jolted her out of her thoughts and she blinked to see Sonic walking in step with her. His expression was curious and he asked, "I remember something you told me back at my backyard. You said that those reptiles had actually been at your village before."

Lavendar must've looked surprised, because Sonic's face turned confused and he cocked his head to the side. "Am I wrong?" The magenta hedgehog shook her head, her bangs swishing with her movement. "No, you are very right. In fact, I was just thinking about it right now," Lavendar corrected. It seemed too coincidental that Sonic had been thinking the same thing she had been, and she let out a breath, searching through her memory. "I found my gem in a sacred place, in a small basin of water. Ever since then, everyone had been fascinated, but no one had dared try to steal it or touch it. I don't really know why…" Before she could finish, Sonic's ears twitched and he looked genuinely surprised. He said, "What? You never knew that your gem zapped and evaporated Mobians if they tried to touch it?"

Lavendar stopped in her tracks, which left Sonic walking a few paces before he realized that she had stopped and he turned around, just to see her looking dazed. "…say what?" she exclaimed incredulously, putting a hand on her gem. What was Sonic saying? Had he seen someone touch it…

As if reading her mind, Sonic nodded and gazed at her gem. "When I first saved you, it felt as if something was stopping me from touching it, like some sort of unseen force. Then later on, one of those crawler creeps attacked my friends, and I ran straight into the fight. To make a long story short, I broke Tails' machine from earlier, and one of the wheels rolled under the reptile's foot, and he tripped towards me and grazed your gem. Then, your gem shot beams into him and killed him." He paused, then continued, "And that's not all. When we tried to find out who it was under the cloak, all we found was empty air. No body, no bones, just the cloak. I hate to say this but…your gem is one killer stone."

Lavendar stared at him, feeling her gem glow in her hand, and she couldn't help but wonder if Sonic was making it all up. But one quick scan over his mind told her that he wasn't, and she stared down at her gem once more. Was it true? Her gem, the gem that had always seemed to protect her, had done all those things? She breathed, "Just what sort of powers do you hold?" The gem only pulsed softly in return, and she let it go, feeling it bump against her breast again.

Brushing the bangs out of her face, Lavendar continued to walk, and Sonic waited for her to reach his side before he started to walk too, sensing that the magenta hedgehog was about to tell him something important. He was right, for Lavendar glanced up at the sky and said, "You're right about one thing. No one even bothered trying to steal my gem…until one day. Oh, those Mobians came a long time ago, so long that it started to slip from the villagers memories. It was dark and stormy that night, when the cloaked Mobians appeared at my village. They had come, clad in black cloaks, but with no weapons." Something inside her sparked, like a short-circuited wire sparking back to life, and all the memories came rushing back to her, and despite of all those heart-throbbing years of trying to lock it away, deep inside her mind, she remembered everything with crystal detail. "All the villagers had stood there, in the rain, watching them suspiciously, as they came on all four limbs, their claws sinking into the mud…"

And suddenly, she was back in the past, back to the time when the forest had still stood, and her family had still been alive. She was standing, half hidden behind her mother's body, glancing at the Mobians with unease. Rain soaked through her magenta hair, but she didn't mind the rain, not like how the other villagers did. But no one complained tonight, standing outside in the cold, damp weather, for everyone was too busy staring at the newcomers. There were three, all bigger than any one of them in the village. Standing in a huddled group, the villagers' eyes filled with unease and wariness, yet one Mobian, a leopard, cleared his throat. The leader at the time stepped forward to greet them, yet young Lavendar felt anxious for some reason, seeing him so close to the creatures.

"Greetings, welcome to Village Homotropolis. What brings you here?" the leader asked, extending a hand. He gazed at the foreigners steadily, orange eyes glowing in the dark like little lights, yet Lavendar sensed his emotions and could tell he was suspicious about these travelers. She was too, and the entire crowd waited for one of the three Mobians to make a move.

However, the cloaked figure in the front ignored his greeting and his hand completely, only hissing, "We are looking for ssomething valuable, like a stone or gemssstone of sssome ssort. We believe that thisss pricelesss item isss currently in your village'sss possssession."

A restless murmur rippled through the crowd, and Lavendar's mother instinctively stiffened and squeezed Lavendar's hand. Lavendar knew that they were looking for her gem. What else was there? The village was humble and owned no prized possession, well, that was, apart from her mysterious gem. Some Mobians were starting to shoot glances her way, whispering at each other and looking at her. The leader also stiffened, but he kept his voice cool as he confirmed, "We have nothing of the sort. Our village only prizes the forest." He flicked his long, thin tail, the spots on his yellow, brown furry body blurring with the rest of his fur, and Lavendar could tell that he was trying hard not to instinctively tense and get into a defensive posture. The creatures remained silent, but one of them turned their head, gazing into the crowd.

And stared straight at Lavendar.

When her eyes made contact, she felt as if her whole body had submerged under ice, and it was all she could do to not collapse. Instinctively, she moved behind her mother and trembled, the icy gaze of the yellow eyes still numbing her. What was that? She couldn't feel the creature's emotions, not when those eyes bored into her very core and froze her soul, like ice. Panting, she swallowed and risked another glance towards the creature. The creature was still looking towards her, but he was no longer intent on her. He was gazing at the gem, hung around her neck, the only thing in the crowd giving off a blue glow. Lavendar's fears were confirmed. He swiveled his head and whispered something into his comrade's ear, and the other creature raised his head and replied softly, "Very well. We will go." All three started to turn their backs, but he turned over his shoulder, "One day, you will regret your anssswer," and with that, the trio slinked into the shadows of the night, the rain pelting down on them in heavy sheets.

When the crowd was dispersing, Lavendar walked aimlessly around, feeling dazed and scared. What did those Mobians want? And how did they know about her gem? She saw her parents talking to the leader, their voices tight and hushed, and occasionally shooting glances at her. Lavendar didn't need to hear what they were saying, she could hear their thoughts clearly, and she knew they were concerned. She herself didn't know what to do. She was just a mere child with a precious gemstone she happened to find. What did those Mobians want?

"Don't worry Lavendar," a voice startled her, and she whipped around to see glowing, yellow eyes. He smiled, the white fur on his chest brushing against his muzzle. "You have to be strong."

"…The only thing that kept me from running away was Raven," Lavendar whispered, returning to the present, the darks trees and stormy clouds disappearing and was instead replaced with blue sky and flowers. The face of Raven morphed and was replaced with Sonic's green eyes, blue fur and pale muzzle. She stared into space, stroking her necklace. "He comforted me, and I knew that no one would've ever done it better. I trusted him more than anyone…" she trailed off, feeling sadness well inside her. "…but Raven is gone, and it's all my fault. Over time, the villagers forgot about the incident, and even I let it slip my mind. I shouldn't have listened to him. I should've run away, but I was a coward." She trembled, but forced herself to be strong. Swallowing, she once again looked at her gem, and she murmured, "It's all because of you, but I can't even imagine parting with you. It's as if you've been a part of me…ever since I made contact with you that day…why didn't you shock me? What are you really?" She squeezed harder, looking into its depths, seeing it glow, feeling its warmth, and she felt as if she could loose herself within its depths. Something seemed to swirl inside of it, and suddenly, a voice, coming from nowhere, breathed in her mind, "_Aquarius."_

Shocked, Lavendar nearly stumbled backwards and fell, if it weren't for Sonic dashing up to her in a split second and catching her, she would've. "What's the matter? Lavendar?" Sonic asked urgently, but Lavendar was too focused on gaping at her gem, feeling bewildered. "It…it just…" she tried to say, but suddenly, something tugged in her gut, and the world seemed to shatter into a million pieces. She heard the faint sound of someone's voice calling her name, far away, and then she went limp.

Lavendar opened her eyes, staring...up or down? She couldn't tell. Looking around her, she realized that she was in a blank white space, making it impossible to tell if she were really seeing anything or had gone blind. She no longer felt Sonic behind her, no longer could see the sky. It was as if she was floating, high up, but there was nothing, just white. She couldn't smell anything, hear anything, feel anything, taste anything, but the only sense still functioning was her sixth one: the power to sense aura. She was in a void of nothingness, but she could feel something - her gem - emitting strong aura. She stared into the aura, feeling the glow almost glare in her vision, and at the same time, feeling the aura merging with hers. No, it _was_ hers, as if they were one, and then, a whisper, like a breath in her brain, murmured, _"When one becomes whole in the water…reveal my true identity…Lavendar…the AuraSenser…" _Then, a voice that seemed to come from everywhere, echoed in her ears, _"I am Aquarius…" _

_"Aquarius…Aquarius…" _the words echoed over and over as the magenta hedgehog gazed sightlessly into the gem, not realizing that suddenly, she had returned to the normal world, the whiteness dissolving and being replaced with colors. She could feel the ground under her, smell the scent of flowers, could hear birds chirping…

And she heard something else, a deep _thump thump thump _noise, and she blinked, twisting her head around, to find herself limp in Sonic's arms, and that her head had been pressed against his chest, and what she had heard was his heartbeat. Groggily, as if she had just woken up in the morning, she realized that they were sitting on the ground and that Cream and Cheese were sitting in front of her, gazing at her anxiously. When Cream saw her moving, she squeaked and exclaimed, "She's awake!" At the same time, she felt Sonic let out a breath, and heard his heart slow down a notch, realizing that his heartbeat had been faster than normal. "Glad for you to rejoin us," she heard him say, and she blinked, tilting her head upwards. Sonic was looking down at her, and when he saw her look at him, he explained, "You suddenly collapsed, and you've been zoned out for quite a while now. Man, you literally became a limp doll, I couldn't move you, so I decided to just hold you until you woke up." Lavendar blinked in surprise, realizing that the clouds in the sky were different than the ones she had seen before she had "zoned" out, and that the sunlight was a deeper shade of orange now, no longer yellow. So whatever had happened had taken more time in this world than the other one? But it had only seemed like a few minutes…"Oh…wow…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you guys," she amended, still feeling a bit light-headed from her experience. The word "Aquarius" still lingered in her mind, and everything else the voice had said echoed in and out of her brain, filling her thoughts. What had happened? Did her gem bring her to a different world somehow? But it couldn't have, Sonic had been holding her the whole time. Did that mean…in some way, her soul had been disconnected from her body? She remembered how her five other senses had become useless and the feeling of floating in endless white. She remembered her gem, its aura mingling with hers. But more importantly…what did the voice mean? It had called her AuraSenser…was that the name for Mobians that could read minds and feel emotions? And what did it mean that when one became whole in the water, it would reveal its "true" identity? Was the voice her gem, communicating with her for the first time?

She didn't have time to think anymore for Sonic suddenly snorted and flicked his ears, his face becoming haughty. "I knew you were going to wake up. I just thought it was strange for you to suddenly fall over. But now that you're better, we can keep going." Abruptly, the hedgehog lifted Lavendar up and righted her on the floor, brushing himself off. Lavendar unsteadily regained her balance as she watched bemusedly at the blue hedgehog, standing a few paces away, his arms crossed. "Come on, we're wasting daylight," and he marched off into the distance, his ears twitching.

Lavendar stared after him, a bit irritated at his sudden mood swivel, and she huffed, "Geez, nice that you cared about me." _Don't you want to know what happened? _She thought. Taking a glance at Cream and Cheese, she softened her tone and said, "Sorry for worrying you guys. I was…erm…sort of in an out-of-body experience." Luckily, she felt normal now, and she hoped the rabbit wouldn't think she was out of her mind. Thankfully, the little Mobian just smiled and got up from the ground, dusting her orange dress off. "Miss Lavendar shouldn't be bothered by Sonic's sudden statement," was all she said, her brown eyes big and round with innocence. She took Cheese by the hand and walked towards Lavendar, her face amused. "He was much more worried than he let on. Sonic was staring at your face the whole time, willing for you to wake up, and he looked really upset. He just doesn't want you to know that," she giggled at the end. Lavendar stood there, feeling perplexed. So, Sonic was too embarrassed to admit it, huh?

But then, she remembered what he had told her back at the river, how his father had died in front of him, and he hadn't been able to do anything to help. Did that mean…that Sonic had been afraid that the same thing would've happened to her? That she would suddenly break down and never wake up, right in his very arms? "Well, let's hope Sonic never finds out you told me then," she replied, her irritation fading. Actually, she was now glad that Sonic hadn't asked what happened, although he was bound to soon. Cream didn't seem particularly interested in asking her either right now, which was good. She needed to think it all over. Now that she thought of it, one sentence in particular kept repeating itself over and over. _When one becomes whole in the water…_why did that sound so familiar? Where had she heard it before? It was on the edge of her brain, flitting back and forth, but she just couldn't grasp it. Shaking her head, she jerked her chin towards the path and muttered, "Hm. Let's go Cream, before we "waste anymore daylight." The three proceeded forward down the sloped path.

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**What exactly was the voice, and what hidden secrets are there in Lavendar's gem? **

**Thanks to any one who reads and reviews!**


	9. Chapter 8: Shifter

**Chapter 8 is up. I've been pretty preoccupied lately and will probably be for weeks to come...but the chapter is up! Read on.**

**All characters belong to their rightful owners.**

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_**Chapter 8: **_

_Shifter_

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The sun was already sinking lower in the sky when Lavendar felt the first pangs of hunger in her stomach. It must've been 4:00 p.m already, and she hadn't had much lunch at the hospital. Cream and Cheese were flying in front of them, still leading them further and further down the valley and showing no signs of stopping. This time, Sonic brought up the rear, and he hadn't been very talkative during their walk. Although his face remained impassive, Lavendar guessed that he had decided to stay at the back so he could keep an eye on the three of them, ready to aid them if anything happened. She could also tell that he was deliberately avoiding her, not questioning her about what had happened earlier, and she decided to keep it that way for now. It gave her time to quietly ponder about it on her own.

_Water…when one becomes whole in water…reveal my true identity, _the words echoed in her mind, and Lavendar stared at the gem around her neck. "Was that you talking? Are you Aquarius?" she murmured, not expecting a reply. The gem glowed silently back at her, and she sighed, lifting her head again. It seemed that ever since those reptiles had chased her that night, a lot of strange things were happening. Was it all related somehow?

Her stomach rumbled in protest again, and she grimaced, hoping that no one heard. Cream better find the place soon, or else she was going to die of hunger before she could find out who those reptiles were.

"Hungry?" Sonic's voice startled her, and she twisted her head around. Sonic had come up from behind and was walking right alongside her again. Lavendar opened her mouth, but her stomach beat her to it and grumbled loudly, causing her to blush. The blue hedgehog's mouth twitched and he called out to Cream, "Hey, Cream, let's find a place to rest and eat ok?"

The little rabbit stopped in mid-flight, her ears propelling to keep her from falling. "Oh, ok. But we're nearly there," she squeaked. She turned her head, and pointed. "Look! There's the field of flowers!"

The four had come to the end of the path, and were standing on a small plateau. Cheese bounced off of Cream's shoulders and flew down, zipping between the long grass. Below them, a vast, plain dotted with flowers stretched far and wide, and when Lavendar turned her head to the right, she could hear the sound of a waterfall, thundering down. The afternoon sun gave the place an orange hue. All in all, it didn't look like a place where a bloodthirsty reptile and knife thrower would've come to. _But it's a crazy world we live in,_ she thought.

Sonic whistled as he took in the view, his hands on his hips. "So exactly where were they Cream? Well…even if we find it, they would've left long ago. At least we can get some clues though…" he trailed off, twitching his nose, until suddenly, he squinted and peered to his right. "Is that Tails over there?" he exclaimed in surprise, and Cream and Cheese flew over, looking with him.

Lavendar cocked her head to the side. "Tails?" she repeated, confused. "As in, you see tails over there?" She peered around too, but didn't see anything.

Sonic let out a chuckle and shook his head. "No, you misunderstood. My friend's name is Tails, remember? The fox who was with me when I saved you." Lavendar thought for a moment, going through all the jumble of events that have happened so far (which was quite a lot), and then a memory surfaced and she slapped her forehead. "Oh! Yes, you told me twice. Miles…Prower, Tails. Sorry, thought you meant you saw a bunch of tails."

"But Tails _does_ have tails Sonic," Cream piped in, and Cheese nodded in agreement. Now Lavendar was _really _confused, and she furrowed her brows at the rabbit. "You mean, _a_ tail right?" she questioned, hoping she was right, but the rabbit shook her head. "No, he has two tails, and he can fly too!" Cream exclaimed, flapping her ears. "Like me!"

Now, all Lavendar could do was stare and think, _What?_ Was Cream pulling her leg? Foxes flying? But then again…Cream could fly, and she was a rabbit. But…two tails?!

She heard Sonic click his tongue beside her, and his face was full of amusement at her utterly confused expression. "Cream, stop it. Lavendar's gone through enough already," he scolded. The blue hedgehog turned to the magenta one. "You'll see soon enough, for he's right over there at the waterfall. And yes, he can fly, but don't gawk at his tails when you see him ok? He gets pretty annoyed." He winked at her, and Lavendar could only nod, even though she was still feeling perplexed. "It's a crazy world we live in," she muttered under her breath as she followed her three other companions down the plateau and to the waterfall/lake.

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Eclipse perched on the tree branch, her eyes glinting as she observed the yellow fox bending next to the pool of water. She didn't know what he was doing with that weird box-like contraption, but it didn't matter. Soon, he would no longer be scooping water into it. What a pity.

The bird slowly unfurled her wings, thinking about what to do. The fox was too big for her to directly attack it, so she'll have to…change a bit. What shall it be? Not something too intimidating, she wanted to have some fun with her prey before it ended up in her stomach. She let out a small caw and shifted forward, having an idea. _It will certainly surprise him, _she thought evilly.

However, right when she was about to drop down, she heard voices approaching, and she turned her head abruptly and shied back inside the cover of the tree's leaves. _What was this? _

From the right flank, four figures were approaching the young fox. From her position, she could see the one in the front, what seemed to be…

"Oh ho!" she cawed softly to herself in surprise. It was a blue hedgehog, and from the looks of it, he was the same one from the burned forest. The one that had taken the girl and the gem. But to make sure…she carefully flitted from her branch and crouched a bit closer. Now she could get a glimpse of his face. Peach muzzle, cocky and rather handsome features (better not tell Venars), the color of his emerald green eyes…and her assumptions were confirmed. It was the rescuer. So! What was he doing here? She eyed the other two Mobians, a rabbit and a small Chao from the looks of it. There was another Mobian behind the blue hedgehog, but she couldn't quite make out its features because it was following the blue hedgehog quite closely.

"Hey Tails!" She heard the blue hedgehog call out, and instantly, the fox at the pond stopped what he was doing and looked up at the newcomers with surprise.

"Sonic? What are you doing here?" He stood up, two tails flapping a little. The crow still didn't quite understand why the fox had two tails instead of one, but she decided to dismiss it. Besides, she herself was not…exactly normal either.

"And Cream and Cheese, what a surprise!" The fox went up to the blue hedgehog and the two exchanged a few words the bird couldn't hear. The Chao though was making her nervous, for he kept looking around and zipping through the trees. Luckily, he hadn't flown into her tree yet, for the little rabbit with the bow kept calling it back. Come to think of it, the rabbit now seemed familiar as well. She had been hunting at the time, but she remembered Senascor and Venars arguing about a rabbit that had seen them, and that she had a Chao with her. Had she brought her friends along for investigation then?

Just then, the blue hedgehog gestured beside him at the Mobian that Eclipse couldn't see. She saw the expression of the fox become curious, and he said something, probably asking who the Mobian was. Eclipse cocked her head as the blue hedgehog stepped to the side and revealed the Mobian that had been blocked from her view.

And she nearly fell out of the tree.

"Tails, this is Lavendar Silverwind, the survivor we saved a few days ago," the blue hedgehog introduced, and the magenta hedgehog smiled shyly and waved her hand at the fox. Eclipse's eyes flashed with shock and glee. So! The blue hedgehog had brought _her _along as well? She could see the bandage wrapped around Lavendar's shoulder, covering the arrow wound she had received. He was out of his mind, exposing her out in the open like that. Wasn't he aware that every second, Mobians were tracking her down?

Right when that thought crossed her mind, she remembered that that was exactly what Senascor, Venars and her were supposed to be doing. And here she was, crouching at a tree and staring straight at the girl! Excellent!

But how would she capture her? The crow looked down at her gnarled talons, cawing with disgust. In this form, she wouldn't be able to do anything except scratch and nip, and those would hardly be any use on Mobians that big. What she really needed was Venars and Senascor, but they were already far away, climbing through forest terrain. She could risk flying away to find them, but it would take time to bring them all the way back here, and by that time, Lavendar would be gone.

Frustration dug into her like claws. Here she was, so close to the victim, and she was utterly useless! She glared at the girl, hating how protected she was. Three Mobians (that is, not counting the Chao) – it would be too much to handle even if she changed form.

The fox was chatting to the rabbit, her squeaky pitch making the crow's ears hurt, and Lavendar was standing at the water's edge, staring at the pond. The blue hedgehog was standing sort of in between, and Eclipse could see the way he kept glancing around, his gaze usually settling on the magenta hedgehog. Something inside the bird suddenly sparked, and she trained her eyes on each of the Mobians once again. Who said that all of them would be wicked fighters? The fox and the rabbit both seemed young, and didn't seem like a potential threat. She watched the rabbit bouncing around and almost tripping over a rock, and she scoffed. Wouldn't be hard to knock her out.

The yellow fox didn't look as clumsy, but he also didn't seem dangerous. No fangs, no razor sharp claws. The innocence in his large, blue eyes confirmed her thoughts. She had no idea what his little water contraption did though…but by looking at its battered up shape, she decided that it wouldn't be much of a weapon.

The crow didn't even think about the Chao; just judging by his puny size, she knew she could take him down easily. And she knew that Lavendar herself was an inexperienced fighter.

But that blue hedgehog…

She shifted on her branch uneasily. Even though he seemed pretty calm right now, she could see his long, sharp quills and spikes. If he were to get provoked or agitated, those quills of his would become sharp blades that would probably slice her to pieces. And there was something about his expression, the way he kept close to Lavendar, as if he was guarding her – he was obviously not going to let anyone bring harm. The bird concluded that out of all the Mobians, he was the only one blocking her from the girl and her gem. She inclined her head, rapidly thinking. Now, with the odds more even, the situation didn't seem as impossible. If she could just get rid of the hedgehog somehow, then it would be much easier to get to Lavendar. And to get rid of him, she would have to lure him away from the others, leaving the magenta hedgehog exposed.

Eclipse let out a cackle, a malicious grin spreading across her beak. Her first intention had been to catch a meal, but now, it seemed that she would have to catch the victim first. Perhaps she wouldn't need Venars and Senascor after all.

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"So, judging by what Cream just told me, you guys are all heading out to the flowerbeds," Tails replied, rubbing his head. The little rabbit had taken a long time to explain her near-to-death experience to the fox, and the two other hedgehogs had almost forgotten why they were here in the first place. Sonic had been balancing on a rock out of boredom up to this point, but now he jerked his head upwards. "Huh?" The fox looked at him as if expecting an answer, and Sonic quickly blinked and said, "Oh – yeah. The Mobian Cream had described sounded like those creeps back at the woods. So we're going there to find out."

Tails nodded slowly, his eyes troubled. Both of them hadn't forgotten the sinister figure that had wielded deadly arrows. The fox couldn't help but shudder at the thought, remembering the hiss of the string as it was loosed from the bow, rocketing through the air straight towards the

red echidna. If it weren't for Tails' fast reflexes, Knuckles would've been injured…or worse.

"If it is one of them, then we should catch him fast," Tails declared, glancing at Cream and Sonic. "Or else, they might burn down even more forests…just like how they burned down Lavendar's…"

Sonic nodded at his statement and glanced behind him at Lavendar, who was staring at the rippling water as if she hadn't heard a word of the conversation. She had been pretty quiet the whole time, her eyes never really straying elsewhere. _What is she doing? _He thought, seeing her intense expression. He peered down at the water, but didn't see anything of interest. For a second, he wondered if it had anything to do with what had happened before. The blue hedgehog had never asked what had really happened to Lavendar when they were on the path, and he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. _Here I am, supposed to be helping her, and I didn't even ask what was wrong. What if something's bothering her?_

He was considering on whether if he should head on over and talk to her when Cream's squeaky voice cut in, "Hey Tails, do you have anything to eat right now? We're all kind of hungry…" She looked meaningfully up at the yellow fox, her brown eyes wide, and Tails chuckled a bit nervously, rubbing his head. Sonic couldn't help but laugh at his expression, knowing his little bro well enough that this meant he _didn't _have any food. Jumping off his rock, the blue hedgehog patted Cream's shoulder and exclaimed, "Whoa there Cream, I don't think Tails had even planned on seeing us, letting alone bringing food for all of us." He winked secretly at Tails, who shot him a grateful look. "You and Lavendar stay here with Tails. I'll go find something okay? Then when we're done, we'll continue on."

Fortunately, the little rabbit was not despondent, and instead she nodded. "Hurry back!" she squeaked, standing next to Tails. Cheese landed on Cream's head and gave him a little wave when the hedgehog turned around and started to head for the trees.

"Sonic?" A soft voice broke his pace and he turned around to see Lavendar standing there, her gray eyes wary. She had stopped whatever she had been doing, and she gazed at him now, her expression apprehensive. When he tilted his head to the side, she suddenly looked downwards, fiddling with her gem. "Just…be careful," was all she said, and Sonic stared in confusion. _Be careful? Food-hunting isn't that dangerous. There's nobody else around…right? _He decided to acknowledge her warning though, and he gave her a thumbs-up. "Alrighty."

"Berries…fruit…there's gotta be _something _around here," Sonic muttered to himself, sighing at yet another empty bush. The woods – that is, if he could even call this small expanse of trees a wood in the first place – seemed to bear no fruit at all. The blue hedgehog was already nearing the edge of the tree line, and he still was empty-handed. Once the wood ended, he knew there would be no chance of finding anything out on the plains.

"That's why I prefer bringing chilidogs from home," he mumbled, his feet crunching through grass. "They would be too unreliable if they grew from trees."

The hedgehog stopped his searching for a moment, staring out across the plains. It was quite bare, except for a large patch of flowers farther up north. That was the flowerbed where Cream had seen the cloaked Mobians. He wondered who the reptiles really were, and why they were after Lavendar and her gem. _We'll find out soon, _he thought firmly, _and put an end to her suffering. _

As he continued scrounging through bushes, Sonic thought back to what Lavendar had said; her gray eyes, uncertain and foreboding, as if something bad was going to happen. _Just…be careful. _He furrowed his brows. What did she mean by that exactly? The blue blur knew that the magenta hedgehog's power of sense was strong, and she could've sensed danger nearby. But then again, Lavendar could've just been paranoid, what with her cautious personality. Besides, if she were really sure of some impending threat, wouldn't she have stopped him? He shook his head, not sure what to make of it.

Sonic had been so absorbed in thought that he hadn't realized that the atmosphere had changed. The birds that had been chirping earlier had suddenly gone silent, leaving an eerie quiet in the air. The hedgehog noticed this now, and he stood still, whipping his head around. _Where'd they all go? _The trees were behind him, and he hadn't seen any birds flying away. He swiveled his ears, suddenly aware that he couldn't even hear the faint chattering of his friends anymore. _Must've wandered a little too far, _he reasoned, although an uneasy feeling was starting to tug at his gut. Something wasn't right. Every time he felt like this, it was as if his body was telling him that something was…off. The blue hedgehog felt as if he were being watched, although he couldn't see anybody from where he was standing. _It could be anyone, _he thought, _like those reptiles. Or some other predatory animal. I mean, I'm not exactly high up in the food chain. _

Sonic took a few more steps, keeping his expression nonchalant but his senses alert. He kept his ears in a relaxed position, but strained them for every tiny sound. The lack of any noise was almost deafening, and it was as if the very trees around him were holding their breaths. He hoped he had been imagining it, but something was definitely watching him, and he could feel his or her gaze on his figure. Sonic's quills threatened to flex uneasily, but he forced himself to appear calm. If he acted agitated, it would warn whatever it was that was following him that he was aware of its presence.

He was considering on whether he should continue when something snapped in a few bushes behind him.

The hedgehog whirled around at the sound, catching sight of glinting eyes in the bushes. He bristled, knowing that he had found the stalker. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

He was about to take a step forward when the glinting eyes suddenly blinked, and he heard a soft whimper. The bushes rustled, and something rose out of the foliage, sniffing. Sonic tensed, expecting an attack, but instead, his eyes widened in surprise when a fluffy head emerged from the bush.

"Mreeow?" a young kitten gazed up at him, black eyes wide with innocence. It was pitch black with shiny, beady eyes, and it raised a small, gloved hand up at him, batting the air. Sonic, still in a defensive pose, could only stare in puzzlement, wondering how he could have mistaken such a harmless child for an enemy. How could've he thought that this was dangerous? Feeling embarrassed and foolish, Sonic dropped his posture and rubbed the back of his head, smiling at the young kitten. "Uh…hi there," he said a bit sheepishly, looking around. "Where are your parents? You're not alone out here right?" _Hope no one else saw my weird behavior…_

The kitten merely blinked, and suddenly, its ears drooped to its side. It whimpered a little and crouched in the bushes, looking desolate. Sonic realized that they were the only ones present, and that the kitten was on its own. That was strange. What was it doing here, all by itself? Shouldn't its parents be nearby? "Hey, are you lost?" he asked, taking a few steps towards the little cat.

The black kitten stared up at him, and for a fleeting moment, Sonic faltered in his step. There was something strange about its beady, black eyes, and the way they seemed to pierce into him, like cold stones. It seemed bright with hunger as it watched him come closer, possessing wickedness no child could ever have. The fur around its right eye also seemed ruffled, and when he looked closer, he could make out a thin, red scar touching its lids. _Whatever happened for it to receive…that? _He pondered. The feeling of unease built up in the hedgehog's gut again, and his senses were telling him that something was not right. If the kitten was harmless, then why had the whole wood grown silent earlier? Why had he felt a sense of danger? _Don't be fooled, _his mind seemed to be warning him, and Sonic stopped, blinking. He closed his eyes for a second, and then opened them again as if to clear his vision.

The little kitten was still staring up at him, and its eyes held nothing but innocence and helplessness. Sonic sighed and shook his head, scolding himself. _Geez, I'm being paranoid. Its just a small kid, and it needs help, _he convinced himself, ignoring his senses that were still urging him to leave. The blue hedgehog crouched down in front of the little cat, smiling and reaching out to take its small paw. "Well if you are lost, I'll help you find you're way back, okay? No sad eyes now," he reassured.

The blue hedgehog should've known that crouching in such an exposed position with his body so close to the strange kitten would not only be stupid but also deadly. The kitten's eyes gleamed, staring at the exposed area near the hedgehog's chest.

Back at the waterfall, Lavendar had warned him. His senses had warned him of danger as well, and yet, he hadn't recognized it.

Looks could be deceiving.

Sonic was wondering how he would help this kit when the little Mobian suddenly grinned, its eyes flashing. But it wasn't a kind, innocent grin a child would produce.

This grin was full of malice and evil.

"Fool," the kitten uttered, and jaws wide, it lunged.

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"Sonic used this machine to put out the flames?" Lavendar asked, peering down at the contraption the young fox was examining. The two were crouching at the water's edge, Lavendar watching curiously at the fox while Tails poked at the water machine's wheels. She had wondered what the little box really was, and Tails had taken the liberty to explain to her its story, from the beginning to the end. To think that such a machine could cause so much commotion…not only was it used to put out the fire in her woods, but it was also the cause of the cloaked Mobian's death. Not to mention the somewhat similar outcome that had occurred when Sonic had stepped onto the loose wheel. (Luckily, he had escaped death, thank goodness.) After that little tale, the magenta hedgehog was reminded once again that help came in various different forms, whether it was living or not.

Tails nodded at Lavendar's question, although his concentration never left the machine. He was righting the machine, although making sure the wheels didn't collapse under its weight. "Yeah…at least he used it for some good," Tails confessed, although a bit grudgingly. During the story, the disgruntled fox had also accused Sonic of his recklessness, and Lavendar had couldn't help but laugh. "But the wheels are still a little loose. I couldn't find my screwdriver, so I had to make do with the wrench. The rest should be fine though. Now I've just got to test it out and see if it works."

He stood up, brushing his slightly ruffled tails behind him as he positioned the nozzle of the contraption towards the pool. Lavendar started to move towards him, but he shook his head. "If it isn't working properly, it might backfire. I don't want to get you wet," he remarked, hoisting the nozzle in his arms.

Lavendar decided to take his advice, and she stood farther away, watching as the young fox slowly bent down and prepared to flip the switch. The two both tensed with anticipation, waiting for water to burst out of the tube.

And instead were only awarded with a tiny droplet that oozed out of the nozzle and plopped to the ground.

"Heh…I guess it still needs some repairing," Tails sweat-dropped, his muzzle slightly flushed with embarrassment as he set the nozzle down and switched the machine off. He let out a long sigh and stared ruefully down at the wet stain on the ground, due to the water droplet. "Well, at least it didn't explode…I'll have to repair it back at the workshop. There's nothing else I can do here." The fox then took the nozzle and started dragging the machine away, the rickety wheels bumping along the ground.

Lavendar watched him retreat to the farther end of the pond, wishing that she could cheer Tails up, but not sure how to do so. She didn't have much experience in machinery, and so she couldn't help him fix it. Besides, the only equipment she had with her was her nunchuck, her crystal locket, and – her gaze trailed down to the glowing gem around her neck, its aqua sheen meeting her eyes – Aquarius, if it was even called that. She still hadn't decoded the strange riddle she had received, but she remembered the words echoing around in her head. _I am Aquarius…_

She shook her head, pushing the thoughts out of her mind. Right now, she had more important things to worry about instead of mulling over a strange message that could've just been from her imagination. The four of them had initially been heading towards the fields in search for any evidence, and they had already wasted enough time staying here. Sonic still hadn't returned from his "food-hunting," even though a considerable amount of time had already passed. She had hoped that his delay was hindered by his unsuccessfulness at finding anything and not by something…else.

But now, a growing anxiety started to grow in the pit of her stomach. Earlier, she had warned the blue hedgehog to be careful because of a strange, uneasy sensation she had felt. She hadn't been entirely sure what exactly she had felt though, and so she had kept her words vague when warning him. Better to keep it simple than having him asking her questions she herself couldn't answer.

The feeling had never really left her, and now, added onto Sonic's absence, it was starting to become a bit worrying.

"Tails?" Lavendar called out at the fox, and the yellow Mobian turned to face her. He had put the machine next to the pond, and he cocked his head to the side. Seeing this, Lavendar asked, "How long does Sonic usually take with something?"

Tails blinked at her question, and he shrugged his shoulders. "It depends on what he's doing. He may be the fastest thing alive, but even he takes some time…for some things," he said, not in the least bit worried or agitated. He then cast her a curious glance. "Why? You think he's taking too long right now?"

Lavendar didn't answer him directly and instead stared at the woods Sonic had headed off to. Tails knew the blue hedgehog better than she did, and if he didn't find his absence worrying, then she shouldn't either.

Then why was she feeling so…uneasy? The growing pit of worry grew in her stomach, and she took in a deep breath, her gray eyes shimmering. Something was definitely not right. She wouldn't be feeling like this if everything were fine. Her earlier sense of something dangerous also added onto her apprehension, and now she was certain that whatever reason it was that was taking Sonic so long wasn't because he was having a hard time finding anything.

But how could she find him? She couldn't go after him without knowing where he was.

Lavendar straightened, a thought suddenly striking her. Actually, there was a way of finding him… and that was to use her uncanny, sixth ability – her Aura Sense.

Aura Sense resembled radar tracking, except she used it to track down auras and souls in a certain area. Instead of her usual ability to read the auras and minds of Mobians near her, her Sense ability to expand her field of Sense allowed her to feel the presence of any living being in her radar, yet not being able to read their minds. In that case, she technically couldn't determine who's aura she was sensing since she wouldn't be able to decipher their thoughts, but she knew that Sonic's aura was…different. She wouldn't need to read his thoughts to know if she felt his presence.

Lavendar closed her eyes, letting the material world melt away from her, and slowly entered the one of spirit. Around her, she could sense the presence of Cream, Cheese, and Tails, their bright auras wavering in place. She moved away from them and concentrated on finding the blue hedgehog's aura instead. Green, warm…Sonic couldn't have gone far, could he? The magenta hedgehog pushed her field of Sense farther, expanding towards the woods, hoping to catch the Mobian's aura. If she could track him down, she would at least know if he was okay or not…

Of course, if she couldn't detect his presence, it would mean two things. He simply could be out of reach, since her Sense had a limit. She had not mastered it entirely, for it required a lot of concentration to be able to maintain in the spirit level.

If it were the second reason…for a moment, Lavendar's concentration wavered, the very thought causing shivers to run down her spine. If she couldn't detect Sonic's aura, his soul, even if he was standing straight in front of her, then that would mean that he was dead.

The magenta hedgehog forced that thought out of her mind, scolding herself almost malevolently for letting such thoughts taint her conscious. Even though she had just met Sonic, she could tell that he was capable of defending himself, and that no ordinary danger would leave him snagged in barbed tangles.

But she _had _felt something sinister before he had left, something not entirely normal. Her worry now drove her with more determination as she concentrated for his aura. She needed to find out for herself if he were really okay, instead of relying on the foolish self-comfort her mind was begging her to believe.

Her Sense field was starting to waver, and she felt the strain starting to tug down on her. It had reached its limit, and still, there was no sign of a green aura. Suddenly, something bright flashed in her Sense "radar," and instantly, she zoomed in to pinpoint the location. The sudden signal had flared somewhere far off, a place where the trees lined by the waterfall ended and the plains started, and when Lavendar slowly brought her concentration there, she almost sighed in relief.

There, shining in place, was Sonic's green aura.

_Well,_ _there he is,_ she thought to herself, glad to have found him at last. But why was he all the way out there? And…Lavendar narrowed her Sense on his Aura, noticing a strange change. _Why is his aura flashing like that?_ Like a flickering flame, the blue hedgehog's Aura was giving off pulses of bright light, and Lavendar bit her lip with confusion. The only reason a Mobian's aura would do that would be if something were surprising him or her greatly…

Suddenly, another, unexpected aura entered in her field, appearing very close to Sonic's aura. When Lavendar directed her attention on it, she at first was confused. The aura was a dark, murky color, like mud splattered against a wet sidewalk, and it was flaring in strange formations, sometimes growing larger, sometimes shrinking to the size of a pebble. Lavendar confusedly tried to take a closer inspection, but something invisible suddenly slammed into her, causing her vision to shatter and zoom away from her like a tornado. For a moment, she felt as if she were suspended in air, and it was then when that alarming presence of something dangerous filled her conscious once more, the same dangerous presence she had felt right before Sonic had left. Thrashing, the magenta hedgehog desperately tried to maintain herself in the Aura Sense, but a loud, resounding screech that seemed to come from her own mind caused her concentration to fully shatter, and she felt herself falling…

Gasping, Lavendar's eyes flung open, and she was wrenched out of the spiritual world, bright sunlight filtering into her eyes. The faint sound of the waterfall once again filled her ears; the crisp smell of the trees met her nostrils. All things around her slowly retook their material shape, and feeling out of coordination, the magenta hedgehog staggered backwards, feeling giddy.

She stumbled straight into something furry, and she flinched at the sudden touch, only to turn around and see a worried Tails and Cream right behind her. During her short "zone-out," session, the two had been discussing about Sonic's absence. They had been mid-way through whether they should go look for him when Lavendar had snapped out of her trance. Tails had caught her from falling completely onto the floor, and he righted her now so that she was firmly back on her two feet. "Lavendar, what happened?" the fox asked with concern.

The magenta hedgehog put a hand to her forehead, brushing the locks of quills out of her sweating face. The sudden separation from the spirit world left her clammy and nauseous, but she knew that she had no time to waste. During her Aura Sense, she had detected a strange aura, an aura that had been very close to Sonic's, and almost right after that, she was blown by the uneasy feeling of a dangerous presence. She knew it couldn't be a coincidence.

"Something or someone strange is next to Sonic right now," she explained urgently to the fox and the rabbit. She stared into the forest, remembering the spot where their Auras had been. "I just felt its presence. Whatever it is, it can't be good. We got to find Sonic, now."


End file.
